Final Fantasy rebirth
by Pippen
Summary: The start of a large series
1. Prologue Complete Piece

PROLOGUE  
  
The Long End  
  
I am.....really....alone.  
  
The thought ran through the man's head over and over, and while it might of brought some fear, it only brought him peace. Alone. He always had been alone, but that's how he preferred it. Alone with thoughts. Not feelings, feelings were things you destroyed; petty emotion simply got in the way of the overall scheme of life. No, thoughts that ran deep into the soul were the kind that came to one who was alone.  
  
Clyde. I used to be Clyde. No, Clyde is dead. I am dead, too...or soon will be.  
  
The ninja shifted his position as he sat in the shuddering tower of rubble, waiting for the end to come. He bent his knees back a bit, rested his arms on them, and took in his fairly dreary surroundings. Pieces of schrapnel, hunks of buildings, melted glass and shattered wood all lay about him, all partially destroyed to be reformed into a hulking abomination. An abomination that was now being desrtoyed by the very power that formed it. Shadow smiled slighty at the irony of it. Destroyed by your maker. What a way to go.  
  
He heard the whir of propellers above, and looked up to see a zeppelin cruise overhead, its shiny hull reflecting back the flames that had engulfed the tower, making the airship seem like it was covered in blood. They were on it. All of them. Good for them, it was not their time to die here. Shadow gave the vanishing ship a vague nod, as if to salute them, and to wish them a safe journey.  
  
The tower gave a lurch, and the tremors that ran through it grew stronger. The ninja knew that if he was standing, he would of been knocked flat on his back. Good, they were getting worse, that meant it was coming sooner. Shadow closed his eyes, breathed in the smokey air, and let his body go completely limp as the floor sagged, and suddenly fell out beneath him. He waited for the final blackness.  
  
Instead, there was a bright light. Then silence. 


	2. Cabin Fever

CHAPTER ONE  
  
Cabin Fever  
  
Edgar Figaro stifled a yawn as he listened to the Chancellor drone on about the expansion of Figaro. At first, Edgar was pleased with the thought of making the castle larger, quicker, and more durable to the pressure of the sand it was generally buried under. But now, the project just seemed more and more tedious. The newest idea was a thing called "eco domes" , something that would house trees, crops and water, all within the castle's walls. It seemed to be a good idea, until the price of the eco domes sat staring back at you from a sheet of paper.  
  
The king crumpled up the paper with the prices, and tossed it at the Chancellor. "Forget it, Bryant. We can't afford to create any environments within Figaro."  
  
Chancellor Bryant caught the piece of paper that rebounded off his chest. " King Edgar, we've been through this, and it would benefit the people of Figaro..."  
  
Edgar sighed, and stood up, pushing his chair away from his desk. "Yeah, and it would render us poorer than Zozo. As I said, forget it. I'm not about to put the entire castle into debt." He raised his hand as the Chancellor began to protest again. "Look, we have farmland near South Figaro that rakes in plenty of crops for both that city and for this castle. We also have our saline treatment plants to the northeast, and those cost enough to maintain. Figaro Castle is simply here for the protection of South Figaro, nothing more."  
  
"But, the residents..."  
  
"...the residents chose to live here, Bryant. They're all soldiers, or government employees and their families. If they don't like it, they can move to South Figaro. Concentrate on the expansion of the east and west wings. I believe this discussion is closed." Edgar walked out of the office, to leave Bryant standing there stupidly with a stack of blueprints and reports in his hands. Things hadn't slowed down for the young king of Figaro in the eleven months that had passed since Kefka's downfall. After he returned to Figaro, he had to manage certain details that simply couldn't be taken care of when he was on his little "quest" with the others. Bryant and his cohorts did a fairly adiquite job of managing things for the two years he was gone, but there was a certain comfort that many found when the king was nearby, and when the king was making the decisions. Since his return, he had plenty of work to do, but he had managed to draw up blueprints to expand Figaro, designed a few new devices, and even had the time to invite some of his friends from what he referred to as the " Kefka business". But now the Kefka business was over with, and that left plenty of time to do, well, kingly things.  
  
Edgar walked into the throne room, and looked at the two high-backed chairs that served as the thrones for Figaro. He could sit down, it would seem appropriate; he hadn't done much of his ruling from a throne lately. Yet, it seemed pointless to the young king. Why? They'd just find him there. He was tired of being king at times. Many times to be exact, it just seemed to be filled with tedium, and the occasional stressful moment. Not only that, but it was a lonely job. He still played the flirtatious bachelor, but women never seemed to take him seriously. It didn't matter, he wasn't necissarily interested in them anyway. He flirted more for the sake of apperances than anything else. Only one women seemed to react differently to him, and she was in Mobliz...  
  
Terra. Why did his thoughts wander back to her? While he could read other people like a book, she was a simple enigma to him. When they parted ways, they had said goodbye to each other the same way that the others had: smiles, a few laughs, a chaste hug and then that was it. He had made some effort to contact her, and to invite her up to Figaro afterwards, but her letters back to him told him that she simply couldn't leave the children. That was Terra for you: always thinking of those children. In some sense, he was proud of her. She had grown so much from the confused girl that Locke had brought to the very spot he stood on two years ago. He wondered how much she had changed since they parted.  
  
The king of Figaro Castle sighed, and went back to find Chancellor Bryant.  
  
* * *  
  
"Gotcha!"  
  
"No fair...my back was turned!" The honey-haired woman giggled and pushed herself from his strong grip. Her companion was grinning at her as she turned to face him, his soft brown eyes alight with mischief. "Mr. Cole, one of these days I'm gonna manage to sneak up on you."  
  
The thief's grin broadened. "Right. When pigs fly. You couldn't sneak up on me, let alone catch me if you tried." To prove his point, he reached in, jabbed her in the stomach with a finger, and jumped back before she could grab his wrist as she squealed with laughter.  
  
"Stop!" The forest echoed with the sounds of their laughter.  
  
He stuck his tongue out at her. "Make me."  
  
Suddenly, she lunged at him with suprising speed, and the next thing he knew, Locke had her sitting on his chest, pinning him down. While she didn't weigh as much as he did, she was his size, and could hold her own while sparring against him. That's how the whole tickle business started: they began by sparring, to burn off the cabin fever. Then Locke started to play unfairly by rushing in and tickling her, and then ducking off someplace to hide. A couple of times, he would take an earring off her or one of her hair clips, and hold it up tauntingly in front of her face before she even knew it was gone. Oh well, that's what you get for hanging around with a thief.  
  
Celes looked down at him. "Uncle?"  
  
Locke smiled and tucked his hands behind his head. "I dunno, I'm kind of liking this..."  
  
Celes opened her mouth for a retort, when a voice was heard from a nearby tree. "Would you two like to be alone?"  
  
The two of them looked up to see a familiar figure, dressed in black and gold, leaning against a broad oak. His pale face bore scars and a fairly oboxious smirk. He pushed a piece of white hair out of his eyes. "Because, y'know...if you two lovers ever want time alone, I'm not one to impose..."  
  
Celes jumped off of Locke, knocking the wind out of him in the process. "Setzer!" She flung herself into his arms to give him a tight squeeze. "What are you doing in Kohlingen?"  
  
The gambler shrugged. "Visiting, mainly. I just wanted to see what's up in Locke and Celes land. Apparently, you two have been inventing little games to keep you busy."  
  
Locke grinned as he shook hands warmly with Setzer. "Still the perverted wise-ass I remember, huh? It's good to see you, Setzer. Here, come back to the house. You never were one to stand around in the woods anyway."  
  
Locke's house was one of the few that was burned during Terra's "attack" on the small town of Koligen, but since the fall of Kefka, he had plenty of time to rebuild it. It wasn't overly large, but it suited the treasure- hunter and Celes perfectly. As they walked up the stone steps, Setzer noted the hydrangas and the white picket fence, something that Locke himself probably wouldn't add, but a fussy woman like Celes would. He decided that if he ever had a home, it would be something like this one.  
  
Setzer seated himself on the couch as Locke pulled up a chair, turning it backwards to straddle it. "So, tell me what you've been doing, Mr. Gambler."  
  
The pale man leaned back thoughtfully. " Gambling, mainly. Also, I've been talking to Cyan about making a fleet of smaller airships for the Doma force."  
  
Celes brought in a cup of tea for Setzer, and set it in front of him. "Oh, how is Cyan anyway?"  
  
Setzer sipped his tea and looked at her over the rim of the cup. "Busy. He has Doma nearly rebuilt, and mostly repopulated. It's line of government has changed, though. They no longer have a monarchy, they have a democracy."  
  
She cocked her head slightly to the side. "Really? Who's president? Cyan?"  
  
He shook his head. "No, he refused the position. He's an advisor to the president, a man by the name of Fabon. So far, things seem to be turning out well there. To top it off, Cyan has Gau behaving like a human being."  
  
The thief smirked. "You mean he doesn't run around saying "Aooouuu" anymore?"  
  
Setzer set down his cup. "No, he actually is learning good manners, and good hygene for that matter. Just the other day--"  
  
He was cut short by a loud gasp from Celes, who began rocking back and forth, clutching at her head. Locke jumped up from his chair to go to her side. "Celes! Are you all right?"  
  
Celes nodded, swallowing hard. "I....I just....felt something."  
  
Locke put an arm around her shoulders. " Felt something...? You haven't had any ability like that since magic died."  
  
The ex-general shuddered, and then relaxed. "It felt...I can't explain it. Pain. Like something wanted something back. It felt like the whole world wanted something back. It was the strangest feeling..." She looked at Locke. "I don't fully know what it was, but it's frightening."  
  
Setzer stood up. "Maybe you two should talk to Strago about this. If it actually is anything magical, he'll have some sort of explanation."  
  
The thief helped Celes up. "Good idea. Is the Falcon ready?"  
  
Gabianni grinned. "As always.  
  
* * *  
  
"Momma? Momma!"  
  
Bridget's yells of concern didn't seem to reach Terra's ears, there was only the pain that pulsated somewhere from the back of her skull. And the images she recieved, of hatred, of wanting filled her mind to the point where she started screaming. Then it suddenly stopped. Still quivering from the aftereffects of the tempest in her mind, Terra reached over to hug the now-crying little girl. "Shh....it's all right. Momma's fine."  
  
"P-please don't scream like that again, Momma. It scares me." The child sniffled and looked up at her with large blue eyes.  
  
"I won't again...I'm sorry....Momma just felt something scary for a moment. It's fine now."  
  
"Scary? You get scared?"  
  
She smiled, and picked up the little girl. "Everybody gets scared, Bridgie. If we don't get scared from time to time, nice things like laughter don't seem as nice."  
  
The child pondered this over for a second, then seemed satisfied with the answer. Terra took Bridget and put her near her older brother. "Here, why don't you play with Thom? I have things I have to do." After the girl nodded to her, the ex-Esper walked into her own room, and shut the door. What WAS that feeling? It was...icky. Terra almost laughed at herself. Icky? She had been around these children too long. And yet, she felt almost...complete. It was such a warm feeling, it surprised her but filled her completely every time she looked into one of the children's faces. It sometimes saddened her that she couldn't leave for even a short while, even though many of the children were older now. She sometimes wished that she could visit her old friends. Edgar wrote to her from time to time, and his brother dropped by frequently. Occasionally she'd recieve visits from Locke and Celes, or even Cyan and Gau, but she never got the chance to pay them a visit. More like she chose not to. She never wanted to let these kids out of her sight, even for a day.  
  
And yet, this feeling she recieved just now chilled her to the bone. It was danger. She didn't know how, or why it was danger, she just felt it within her heart. Since the Esper part of her "died" , Terra's abilities had seriously been diminished. Still, she maintained the strength and speed of her old self, not to mention that sixth sense that all Espers had. The ability to sense power. To sense magic. Like the feeling just now.  
  
Terra sat down at her desk, and began to write a letter.  
  
* * *  
  
Thamasa was pretty much as Celes had remembered it, although a bit greener than it was right after the apocolypse. More flowers bloomed, more birds sang in the trees, and it seemed that more children played in the streets. Like most towns, Thamasa was getting pretty close to getting back to normal, and while the grass and sky hadn't fully recovered in this area of the world, it sure beat Zozo. She looked to the left, to see the ocean, and the Falcon parked on the beach. Since Kefka tore the world apart, Thamasa had become an island. The strip of land to the south of it simply sunk underwater, and the island to the north of it rose, revealing the cave to a legendary monstrosity. Celes shuddered when she remembered seeing the Hidon. She had seen many horrors in her life as a general for the Empire, but that thing topped the list. She was grateful that Strago had put an end to it, although she had doubted the old man at first.  
  
So did Locke. She looked at the thief, and he seemed absorbed in taking in the sights as well, his brown eyes examining every detail around him. He must of felt her eyes on him, since he turned to her and smiled with a wink. Whenever he smiled at her like that, she felt...safe. She didn't understand why, she just knew. He had said that he would never let go. And he hadn't. For a brief time after Kefka's downfall, the loss of magic had seriously effected them all. Celes was effected so directly that it interfered with her life. For two months she became nearly comotose, viewing life through a daze that barely saw and heard anything. While in that stupor, she could remember certain things, small images. She seemed to mostly remember Locke's face, Locke bringing her food, Locke talking to her kindly with a bittersweet smile. After she recovered from her magic withdrawl, he admitted to watching over her like a hawk while she was ill, and tending to her every need. He also said that he didn't tell a soul about it either. He knew that Celes wouldn't want the others to worry, so he kept it to himself. She was amazed and flattered by his devotion, since many men would of just left a woman in that state. She smiled back at him. In many ways, this so-called "treasure hunter" with his lopsided smiles and razor-sharp whiticisms was more of a gentleman than Cyan or even Edgar.  
  
He looked at her quizzically. "Why are you smiling like that?"  
  
She shrugged. "I don't know....I guess I'm just happy."  
  
He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. " And that makes me happy. C'mon, let's see if Strago is home."  
  
Strago's house had recieved a new coat of paint since they had last seen it, and new rows of shrubs lined the sides of the house. The thick oak door was stained and laquered to a shiny deep brown, and it gave a loud booming noise as Locke pounded his fist on it. Promptly after, a hoarse barking was heard on the other side of the door, and some scratching sounds. A vaugely familiar voice spoke in firm tones. " Interceptor, sit!"  
  
A whine was heard on the other side of the door, and then the dog was silent. The door opened, and the two of them found themselves face-to-face with a more mature Relm. She had just begun showing the signs of womanhood, and the promise that her beautiful face had as a child was beginning to show as well. She smiled at them warmly and embraced Celes. "You guys! What a nice surprise!"  
  
Locke let the young girl give him a hug as well, patting her back. "Well, we had to drop by. Setzer came by us, and since we had an airship at our disposal, this seemed the best place to go. My my, haven't we grown up?"  
  
Relm smiled, producing dimples. "I just turned thirteen a week ago. Grandpa says that this daisy is growing up to become a rose. He's such a flatterer."  
  
Celes yelped and jumped as a wet nose was pressed against her knee. She looked down to see Interceptor looking up at her with red-brown eyes, his whiplike tail wagging slowly. She patted the doberman on the head.  
  
"And Interceptor says hello, too." Relm giggled. "He's such a nice dog."  
  
Locke reached out to pet Interceptor, but yanked his hand back quickly as the dog bared fangs at him. "Uh...to you. He never liked me much."  
  
Interceptor produced a growl that ended when Relm shushed him. "I'm sorry, I forgot my manners. Come in you two, I have some coffee on right now."  
  
The inside of the Magus' house was changed as well. It seemed less full of the tawdry antiques and dull-colored furnature that Strago owned, but more full of soft apolstry, whispy curtains, and bright paintings on the walls. Apparently Relm had something to do with the refurnishing of the house. She offered them a seat on a blue and white couch and muttered something about coffee as she bustled off into the next room.  
  
Celes smiled as she looked around. " Well, our little Relm has really changed..."  
  
The thief shrugged. "She's growing up, Celes. It happens to the best of us. Well, most of us anyway. I don't see myself maturing fully for a few more years."  
  
She gave a wicked smile. "Maybe it'll happen when you turn 30. It's only a few years off."  
  
"That's not even funny."  
  
"Really? I thought it was."  
  
Relm came back in with three cups of coffee on a tray. "Light creme for Celes..." She set it down in front of her. "...and extra strong, three sugars for Mr. Treasure Hunter." she said, handing a mug to Locke. She then sat down in a chair adjacent to them, her delicate little hands wrapped around a coffee mug. "So, what is this visit really about?"  
  
Celes sedately crossed her legs. "I see we can't hide things from you at all, can we?"  
  
The young artist smirked, making her dimples even more pronounced. "You'd be surprised what I can read by looking at a person." Her smile faded, and she looked seriously at them. "I know why you're here. It's that feeling you had yesterday, isn't it?"  
  
The two of them exchanged a look, then Locke turned back to Relm and nodded. " Yeah. It was Celes. All of a sudden, she was in pain."  
  
Relm closed her green eyes. "Pain, confusion, a feeling of hatred and wanting. And fear." She opened them to gaze at Celes. "Is that how you felt?"  
  
The honey-blonde woman nodded slowly. " Yeah...it was a pretty scary feeling too. How...?"  
  
She shook her head, her pale blond curls bobbing. "I know, because I felt it too. So did Grandpa, and most of the other people in this town. So did Terra, we recieved a letter from her this morning. Grandpa wrote to the others, and requested that we all meet here. I guess that there was no need for him to write to you, since you came here on your own."  
  
"Which is good, since we have some matters to discuss." A voice said from the doorway. The speaker walked to his favorite chair, and sat down with a weary grunt. Strago was not looking good. His eyes seemed tired, and his face was even more deeply lined than it was before. He rubbed at his temples with a sigh. "Since you're one of the people this concerns, Celes, I may as well explain some things." He looked at her sternly. "Magic is not dead."  
  
Celes shook her head. "That's not right...if it's not dead, then why haven't I felt it before?"  
  
"You did. That's what your "withdrawl" was. It wasn't the feeling of magic dying. It was the feeling of magic shifting, and reforming."  
  
She turned to Locke. "Did you tell him about that?"  
  
He raised his hands defensively. "You know I promised not to tell anybody about that. Damned if I know why he knows."  
  
"He knows, because it happened to me too. And Terra." Relm sighed. "We never brought it up, since everybody was getting on with their lives, and we didn't want to interrupt anything. Terra wrote to Grandpa when it happened, but it effected her differently, just as it effected me differently. Terra got severe headaches, and lost her temper often. I had trouble concentrating, and a lot of time things confused me."  
  
"And I," Celes said. "was disoriented. I vaguely remember what happened."  
  
"It seemed to only effect you three. I believe it has something to do with the Espers, seeing that you were the only ones conjoined with them." Strago scratched at his whispy hair. "When magicite disappeared, it effected you directly."  
  
Locke frowned. "I used magicite too, and magic. Why didn't it effect me? Or Edgar? Or Gau? Or any of the rest of us?"  
  
Strago waggled a finger at him. "A woman's body is different from a man's. Or have you forgotten?"  
  
The thief actually blushed.  
  
Leaning back in his chair, the blue mage glanced at the clock, and nodded. " Good. The others should be arriving in the next few hours. Make yourselves comfortable, you two. We may be here a while." 


	3. Not Quite Gone

CHAPTER TWO  
  
Not Quite Gone  
  
As they day went on, the others in their little group arrived. Setzer traveled to Doma to pick up Cyan, Sabin and Gau, while Edgar traveled by ship with Terra and Mog. Umaro did not put in an appearance, however, and Gogo simply could not be reached. Eventually, when they had all arrived and were all situated in Strago's living room, the old mage stood and told them what had been happening.  
  
"It appears," he said. "That magic is indeed not dying. It is instead remaking itself."  
  
Sabin knitted his eyebrows together in confusion. "How's that? We saw it die, didn't we? With the magicite?"  
  
Strago shook his head. "You saw the Espers' essences dissipating, and even the Esper part of Terra dissipating, but magic itself never dies." He paced slowly as he spoke. "One thing about this world, is it always finds a way to reform itself, and magic always finds a way to be reborn. The war of the Magi? The whole business that set us back a millennia? Because of magic. Because the crystals shattered. They thought magic was dead too, but then Espers were discovered. Magic was reborn again. Now the Espers are gone, and it is time for magic to show its face in a different form." He turned to them. "I believe that the disturbance that some of you felt is caused by magic shifting and twisting."  
  
"I didn't feel anything." Edgar interjected.  
  
"I said some of you. Mainly the women. Terra, Celes and Relm all could tell you their experiences."  
  
Edgar looked across the room at Terra. " Is that true?"  
  
The green-haired woman nodded. "Yes. Right after we all went out separate ways, I went into a strange state...my thinking was effected, as was my mind. I had migraines frequently."  
  
The king sighed. "Why didn't you tell me? I would of sent you a doctor."  
  
She shrugged with a light toss of her shoulders, as if dismissing the matter. " I didn't think it was too important to interrupt what you were doing. Besides, I thought it was just stress."  
  
"I became too edgy to paint anything." Relm said. "I lost most of my coordination and my concentration. It was very frustrating."  
  
"And I became a vegetable for a few months." Celes exchanged a look with Locke. "We didn't tell any of you, because we didn't want to worry you."  
  
"Same here." Relm said. "We had just finished saving the world. I knew we needed some R & R, so I didn't bring it up to anybody but Grandpa."  
  
Setzer toyed with one of his steel cards, flipping it over and over in his hand. "So it seems that a lack of communication is the problem here. I think the next time anything weird happens to us, we should talk to each other, not hide in our own little corners."  
  
Cyan nodded. "What Setzer says doth have merit to it. Perhaps we should keep the lines of communication open."  
  
Strago shook his head. "Even though we've all shared this together now, I've known of the problem for a while, and I'm still trying to find the source. I'd like to ask the rest of you: have any of you noticed anything...strange lately?"  
  
Gau politely raised his hand. "I did. I've gone back to the Veldt, and the animals felt uneasy. Some told me about strange shakings in the ground."  
  
Sabin frowned. "Earthquakes on the Veldt, huh? Is that odd?"  
  
Gau nodded. "The Veldt isn't anywhere near volcanoes, or other places that cause earthquakes."  
  
"Yes." Cyan agreed. "The Veldt doth not sit on any fault lines, and even though Kefka hath reshaped the world, I do not think that he could totally reshape where earthquakes occur."  
  
"Don't be too sure." Edgar said. "While the Veldt was once on the largest plate on the planet, that plate may of broken up into smaller plates when things were re-arranged. That's how many other things got reshaped and moved around." He looked at Strago. "The plates are still moving, they're always moving, but things are shifting around at an amazing rate. Some of my topographers measured the rate at which the southwest continent moves to the northwest one. Normally, continents move at the rate of one inch per year. These continents move at the rate of three or four feet per year. They estimate that the two continents will collide in three hundred years, and form a new continent."  
  
Gau ran a large hand over his dark blond hair, which was no longer green- tinged since he started bathing. It was cut shorter now, and put back into a neat ponytail, much like Cyan. " Then what would that have to do with the earthquakes? Or magic?"  
  
Edgar looked at Strago again. "Is it possible that some of this shifting of the earth's tectonic plates deals with magic being reborn?"  
  
Strago scratched at his bushy beard thoughtfully for a moment. "It's definitely a possibility. It's not the first time it happened. But even then, the world was being reshaped as new gods or goddesses took over. The three statues, the three goddesses, are now gone, and no one new is taking over. Magic has always tied in with deities, but without new ones, I don't know how it's coming around. That's what has me baffled."  
  
Setzer palmed the card he had been toying with, and slid it down his sleeve to add it to the innumerable decks he had hidden there. "Well, I think it's settled, then. We check out what's underground. If things are funny with the earth, we check the earth. We probably should start with the Veldt. I'll be waiting for all of you on deck of the Falcon." The gambler grinned. " Sounds like we're up for a helluva lotta fun."  
  
* * *  
  
Gau stretched his long, gangly limbs and breathed in deeply. It had been a while. Even though his new life with Cyan was interesting and even fun, he'd always consider the Veldt his true home. The animals that many considered vicious or fearsome were simple friends to him, companions that shared a bond with the boy that was different than human friendship and unique in its own sense.  
  
Relm came to stand beside him. "You've changed, Gau. I never thought you'd become civilized."  
  
He smiled a sharp-toothed grin. "On the surface, I'm just another boy, well- maintained and on his best behavior. On the inside, I'm just as wild as I always was." Relm noted that Gau had started to pick up on Cyan's accent. He turned to look down at her. " You can't tame a wild animal completely. Even chocobos and cattle still dream about running through fields, living free." You've changed too, he thought. "We're both growing up, Relm."  
  
"Yeah...scary, huh?" She giggled. "I think it scares the adults more than us."  
  
Gau laughed, it was a more pleasant laugh, not the harsh ugly one he once had. Relm decided that he wasn't a stinky little rat anymore, but perhaps somebody she could relate to. The only two people in her age range in their exclusive group were Gau and Mog. Gau was too much like an animal, and Mog was too...weird. Relm found herself bored at times, and actually spent more time talking to the adults than the two boys. Now, maybe things would change. She found herself smiling.  
  
Gau took her smile as something else. "I know, it's great to be back here, isn't it? The Veldt always has some certain peace." He turned to look at the group of the adults, who were all deep in conversation. Edgar and Locke were debating. They always argued, and the debate was usually solved by Terra. For some reason, she had the ability to make them behave. Gau saw Locke shout and wave his arms in the air at Edgar, while the young king shouted back and prodded the thief in the chest with an angry finger.  
  
Relm sighed. "Why do adults always have to complicate things? Getting along isn't too hard to do, if you try."  
  
He shrugged. "It makes them happy. Adults play different kinds of games. What Locke and Edgar do is a game. But maybe I should end it." He then raised his face, open his mouth and let out a long, mournful howl. The two men stopped yelling, and turned with the others to look at Gau, as the young man started to howl again.  
  
Cyan walked over to Gau. "What have I told thee, Gau? Behaving in such a way is unacceptable!"  
  
He stopped howling, and looked at his adoptive father. "I'm sorry, but I was trying to get you all to stop yelling at each other. Besides, I want to ask some questions."  
  
"Ah, I see. Ask away, then."  
  
"Not you. Them." Gau pointed at a cloud of dust in the distance that moved closer to them. Low grunts were heard from the herd of animals that reached them with surprising speed. Within moments, a herd of Bufflax had reached the group, watching them with wary piglike eyes. A few other animals were mixed in, something deerlike in nature and even a Gobbler that perched on a nearby sage tree. Gau stepped forward, and made some grunting sounds. One of the Bufflax pawed at the earth with a cloven hoof, and growled low. The vulture-like Gobbler fanned its wings, and screeched excitedly. Gau nodded in response, then turned to the group. " They say that the earthquakes are getting bigger to the south of here, near the caves. The bird says that he saw green stuff that was not grass."  
  
Sabin looked baffled. "Green stuff that isn't grass? That doesn't help us much."  
  
"Sorry, but that's what he said."  
  
"Maybe that bird's been eating some of that green stuff...." Sabin mumbled in a failed attempt at humor.  
  
Gau clambered up on the back of the Bufflax that spoke to him. Cyan made a strangled sound. "Gau, what are thou doing? Get off there!"  
  
"It's okay, he says that he'll take me there. You're all welcome to take a ride too."  
  
Locke wrinkled his nose. "I'll pass. I'd prefer not to smell like a stockyard."  
  
"We'll follow in the Falcon." Setzer offered.  
  
The airship followed the herd of animals easily, with Gau riding in the lead. Interceptor followed the herd of animals happily like a puppy, every once in a while barking at the deerlike creatures. Celes stood on deck, watching them. She knew who came up beside her, she didn't even have to look to know his presence.  
  
"Gau's really changed, hasn't he?" Locke said.  
  
"Mmm." She nodded in agreement. "He's becoming so much like Cyan it's uncanny. But it's also a nice change...if Gau can be raised as the perfect gentleman, then it might do the world some good. Gentlemen are hard to find nowadays."  
  
"Sorry I disappoint you."  
  
"That wasn't directed at you."  
  
"I know, I'm just teasing." He scanned the Veldt up ahead, and saw the rocky knoll that housed the entrance to the extensive cave system underneath the Veldt. "There it is." He frowned. "I wonder if this is just a waste of our time."  
  
"I don't know, I think it's nice to get out of Koligen every once in a while. And I know you, you're just as happy to get out and moving as anybody else."  
  
The thief smiled at her. "Yeah, I guess I am. I don't want to get too domestic...yet. Besides, who knows what I might find on this little outing? Maybe something else to add to my collection."  
  
Setzer brought the Falcon around the leeward side of the knoll to land on more even ground. Mog and the gambler remained on board as the rest of the group exited the airship. Gau was waiting for them. "This is the spot. This used to be where the underground part of the Serpent trench ran, but there's not water in there anymore." He looked up to the Gobbler, and the bird cocked its head aside, cawking. "He says that instead of water, there's green stuff. It runs like water."  
  
Edgar sighed. "This isn't much to go on, Gau. Are you sure our coming here was a good idea?"  
  
Gau crossed his arms. "Do you have any suggestions, then?" He waited for a response briefly. "No? Then let's just look at this green water stuff for now." He turned and went into the cave.  
  
Locke chuckled. "Definitely getting like Cyan..."  
  
Usually, the cave was illuminated by a few torches set there by roving thieves that used it as their hideout, but this time it was completely dark. They fumbled around in the darkness for a few minutes, resulting in a few stubbed toes and some muttered oaths. "Wait a second," they heard Edgar say. There was the sound of something striking metal, a few sparks, and then a sudden glow from a lantern. They all blinked in the light until their eyes adjusted, and then moved on. Terra kept in stride with Edgar, obviously wanting to be near the light he held at shoulder-level. The young king smirked at her.  
  
"Afraid of the dark?"  
  
Her face twisted into an annoyed frown. " Don't even tease me right now..."  
  
"I'll let you hold my hand."  
  
"I'd rather bite it off."  
  
"Rowrl..." said Sabin, raising his claw to emphasize his point. "Touchy today, aren't we?"  
  
"Leave her alone, you two." Locke chided. " We're here for a reason, and that reason ain't to pick on each other. We can do that later." He looked around the cavern, his eyes sharp in the dark. "Hm. I don't get it...there doesn't seem to be any "green stuff" anywhere."  
  
Edgar raised his lantern higher to examine the cave walls. "Well, maybe it's growing on the ceiling or something."  
  
Cyan looked up. "Nay, good king. The bird claimed that it ran like water, and it would drip upon our heads if it was on the ceiling."  
  
"What's that up there?" Relm asked, pointing.  
  
"Where?" Edgar raised his lantern to the twist in the cavern ahead of them, but all they managed to see was a wall.  
  
"No, cover the lantern a minute, I thought I saw some light."  
  
He did so, closing the metal flaps on the side of the lamp. Relm took a few steps ahead, fairly sure of where she was going in the dark. "There.....right in front of us....it's down this turn; looks like it goes to the left. Do you see it?"  
  
Gau blinked in the dark. A faint light illuminated the wall ahead of them, making Relm's slight figure stand out darkly against the eerie backdrop. The bird was right...it wasn't something growing, it was something glowing.  
  
The light was green.  
  
Relm slowly walked towards the light, and disappeared around the corner. Strago ran after her. "Relm, stay back with us! You have no idea what that is..."  
  
She turned to him, her face sickly-looking in the green glow. "But don't you feel it, grandpa? It feels strange."  
  
Cyan stepped around the corner, the others close behind him. "I don't like the feel of this."  
  
"See? Even Cyan's spooked. Maybe this is what we were looking for, grandpa. You can stay here if you want, but I'm going ahead." She spun back towards the light quickly, and moved on ahead. Relm hoped that her voice didn't let on, but she was seriously frightened. She sensed something dark and foreboding at the end of the tunnel, something that was in the light. For all she knew, it could be something like Atma, something that lay in wait until they were close, and then went in for the kill. A low growl was heard from her lower left. Apparently Interceptor felt the same way. She pet the dog on the head. " Thanks."  
  
The dog made a growl that ended in a whine. Gau came up next to the doberman, and nodded. "He says that he's just as afraid as you are, but he'll do what it takes to protect you."  
  
"You understand him too?"  
  
"I understand a lot." He smiled, fangs shining in the pale green light. The smile faded as his eyes fixed on an opening ahead of them. A bit bolder than the rest, he rushed ahead, and went into the open cavern ahead of them. Relm ran after Gau with the others close behind her, calling his name. His response was one of the animalistic growling sounds he used to make when he still lived on the Veldt. Now what? Was he getting attacked? They ran into the cave, weapons drawn.  
  
Then they came to a halt once out in the open, swords, pikes and daggers held numbly in their hands. Gau stood facing the center of the room, a few paces ahead, in a crouched position, making growling sounds.  
  
"Holy shit..." Locke breathed. Nobody said anything else.  
  
In front of Gau was a pool of liquid. Green liquid that put off a green- white light, making their shadows appear reddish against the wall behind them. Every once in a while the liquid would stir with some current, or even the occasional bubble would break the surface. Interceptor took a few steps forwards while whining, his red-brown eyes not fixed on the green ooze, but the man Gau sat growling at. The man was crouched low to the ground, not in an offensive or even defensive position, but more so he could closely examine the pool. Interceptor gave a low whine, his long tail tucked between his legs, yet wagging slightly. The familiar figure, decked in black, stood up to face them.  
  
"...Shadow?" Celes ventured.  
  
The ninja narrowed his eyes at them. " You are not supposed to be here. I suggest you forget you saw this."  
  
Interceptor pricked his ears up at the sound of his former master's voice, then lay them flat, growling. Relm looked at the dog, then at Shadow. Why would Interceptor growl at Shadow? That dog loved the ninja, didn't he? Something was strange here.  
  
"Leave. Stay out of my way." The ninja's voice had a cold edge to it, instead of its usual deadpan tone. He took a step back, there was a flash of light, and suddenly he was gone. The group stood there stunned while Interceptor growled at the place where Shadow had stood. Relm walked over to the dog and put a hand on his back to calm him. That was weird. Really....weird, she thought.  
  
"What the hell was that just now?" Locke grumbled in back of her, obviously sharing her sentiments. The thief walked down to stand next to the two teens and Interceptor. "Well, I guess Shadow's alive, and as friendly as ever."  
  
"Gau doesn't....uh...I mean, I don't like this." Obviously when startled, the boy went back to his old ways. He stood up straight, and looked down at Locke, since he was now taller than him. Most people were. "Didn't you see his eyes?"  
  
"Yeah, they were creepy, as always."  
  
"No. His eyes were blue. A pale blue. Shadow's eyes were always amber."  
  
"A trick of the light?" Cyan offered. " That green liquid does set off the colors, which we can tell by looking at each other. The Figaro brothers' hair is as green as Terra's in this light."  
  
"I saw it." Relm said. "His eyes seemed almost.....glowey. The color was unnatural. I felt something too, but it seems to be this green stuff in front of us."  
  
Interceptor sniffed at the liquid, which put off a small amount of heat in the normally chill cavern, although no steam rose from it. The doberman whined low and sneezed. Sabin laughed. "He doesn't like how it smells."  
  
Edgar ventured forward to the edge of the pool, examining it critically with his brilliantly blue eyes. "It doesn't seem like water at all, it's too viscous. It's more like ooze." He sniffed. "Strange, I don't smell anything from it either." The king crouched and reached a hand out to touch it.  
  
"Brother, don't do that! You don't know what that gunk is!"  
  
Edgar shrugged. "I don't think it'll hurt to touch it. Interceptor got fairly close to it, and he seems fine." He licked his lips, and tentatively reached out to the ooze, barely touching it. "It's warm." Closing his fingers, he scooped up a handful of it with his palm, and tested the consistency of it with his thumb. "Warm, and sort of tingly. It feels odd." The ooze in his hand suddenly bubbled, and with a grunt, Edgar tried to fling it off. The thick green liquid's glow grew brighter as it clung to his hand, and began to writhe like a snake, slithering up his arm into the cuff of his jacket. He tried to fling it off again, his blue eyes growing wide with fear. Edgar screamed, scrabbling backwards until he hit a wall, still flailing his now-covered arm around. The gob of ooze on his arm fell off onto the floor, and slithered back to join the pool at the center of the room. Interceptor growled at the ooze as it made its way back home, while Terra rushed down next to Edgar. "Are you all right?"  
  
The young king was trembling violently, and there were tears standing in his eyes. "That stuff.....it's....it feels....alive. It said to me...." He groaned and rubbed at his face. "I can't explain it, it just started talking to me by invading my mind. I couldn't shut it out." He turned to his brother , who also crouched at his side. "I think I'm all right now. I don't know what happened just now, but I don't want to get near that guk anymore."  
  
Locke prodded at the ooze with the end of a dirk. "Maybe this is what caused the women to have problems. I mean, look what it did to Edgar." He lifted the dagger and watched the transparent liquid drip down slowly. "Do you think this stuff is magic?"  
  
"Liquid magic?" Strago stepped to the edge of the pool, next to the treasure hunter. "Hm. It's a possibility. I think we should take some to Thamasa...some of the other people there can look at it too."  
  
Terra looked at the liquid. "Anybody have a potion?"  
  
"Here, I have one..." Sabin offered, pulling a small bottle out of his pocket. Terra took it from him, and offered to Edgar. The king shook his head in refusal.  
  
"Oh well, I guess it's a waste then." She said, unstoppering the bottle and dumping the contents on the floor. Sabin stepped forward.  
  
"Hey, I paid for that!"  
  
"I'll pay you the difference when we get back to a town, if you want. We need something to put this gunk in, after all." She walked up to Locke and held up the bottle in front of him. "You're wearing gloves, why don't you scoop some up for us?"  
  
Locke looked at his fingerless gloves, then decided that they would offer more protection than bare hands, and nodded, taking the bottle from Terra. "It doesn't seem to hate me like it did Edgar anyway." He knelt down and carefully dangled the bottle in the thick, transparent liquid by the small thread tied around its neck, and watched until bubbles stopped coming up from it. He pulled it up, letting the excess goop dribble from the sides of the glass vial. The whole process took a while.  
  
"Hurry up already." Sabin said gruffly. "I want to get out of here before I'm 40."  
  
"Do you want to do this? Besides, I don't want to touch it and wind up freaked out like Edgar." He took his bandanna off his head, and wrapped the bottle with it, stoppering the top off with its cork. "There. We've got the goods, now let's get the hell out of here."  
  
* * *  
  
"So you mean that Edgar actually went apeshit when he touched it? I've never seen Edgar lose his cool."  
  
"This isn't ordinary stuff, Setzer." Locke said. "I felt all tingly just when I got close enough to gather some."  
  
"Then why didn't you wig out too?" Setzer idly flipped a coin over the tops of his knuckles, a trick that normally prestidigitarians did, but the gambler merely did out of boredom.  
  
The thief shrugged. "I was careful not to touch it. I didn't want it to....do whatever it did to Edgar. Damned if I'll scream like a pansy."  
  
"Watch it..." Sabin said. "You know that Edgar's no pansy."  
  
"Sorry, it's just a joke wasted only because your brother is absent at the moment. If you want, I can pick on him later." Locke looked at Setzer, who had ditched the coin and now was toying with a deck of cards. "You gonna fiddle with those too, or are you gonna deal?"  
  
The gambler's scarred face broke into a grin, and he dealt hands for himself and the other two men at the table. Terra watched them across the room. Whatever happened briefly in that cave, they were obviously blowing it off like it was nothing, or making it seem that way. Men tended to act as if major things were nothing, and made small things seem huge. Especially when dealing with women; they always did their best to make sure that a lady was all right, obviously not knowing that when doing so they got in the way. Well, most men anyway...  
  
Terra stood up and wandered across the room to talk to Celes. Celes was always blunt and straight-forward, and never let a man be too irritating while around her. She did allow Locke to continue to watch over her, though. Terra sighed. Was that what you did when you loved somebody? It must be like that, since whenever Locke felt that he was helping Celes, he seemed happy.  
  
Celes was seated by a window, looking at Relm's sketchbook. Terra sat down on the other side of Relm. "What are you looking at?"  
  
Relm smiled, dimples popping up. "Oh, a picture of Gau I just drew. He looks much nicer now that he bathes, wouldn't you say?" Terra looked down at the portrait, done in a normal pencil. The face and the shading were so lifelike, she expected the eyes to blink at her and the mouth to split into one of Gau's fang-toothed grins. Relm always had amazing talent, and she was continuing to increase her artistic skills as she got older. Terra wistfully wished that she could draw, but the best she could manage were trees, and some very accomplished stick figures. Relm babbled on to Celes about the picture, and how she asked Gau to sit down for it. Terra had a thought that came up suddenly.  
  
"Relm? Would you do something for me?"  
  
The girl nodded. "Sure I would. What did you want?"  
  
Terra knew that Relm had a good memory, and she hoped that she could remember what somebody looked like. Relm had only seen him a few times, but perhaps that was enough. "Would you....draw me a picture of my father?"  
  
Relm smiled softly, and nodded. "Of course...but..." She turned to Celes. " I'm going to do something sort of....weird. Promise not to tell the others?"  
  
Celes looked a bit confused. "Are you going to sketch a replicate of him, like you can for monsters?"  
  
She shook her head. "No, something else." She turned back to Terra. "I don't exactly remember what your father looked like, so you'll have to do something for me."  
  
"Describe him?"  
  
"No, just think of him. Think of his face. Just for a few minutes."  
  
Terra blinked, but did as she was told. She thought of her father's tan skin and green hair, of his red eyes and elegantly curving horns. It wasn't too difficult, once she had regained her memory of childhood, she remembered playing with her father as a toddler, of his face and his smiles. She felt a small touch on her mind, and her thoughts broke up.  
  
"Don't worry, that's just me." Relm said.  
  
"How...?"  
  
"It's okay, just think of your father again, I need to see him through you." She turned the page in her sketchbook, and started to quickly draw the outline of a face with her pencil. Terra didn't try to ask how Relm got into her mind, but instead concentrated on Maduin again. After a few minutes, she grew tired of thinking of the Esper's face, father or not. "Are you done, or do I still have to think of how he looked?"  
  
Relm didn't look up from where she was drawing strands of hair. "Mm? Oh, no...I got the image in my mind now. You can relax again."  
  
For a few minutes, the two women watched her render the horns in the picture, and then Terra had to finally ask. "I'm sorry, but I have to know. How did you get that from my mind?"  
  
"Oh, that? I'm a telepath." The offhand way she stated it made it seem like the question was rudimentary.  
  
"You mean, you can speak to people with your mind?" Celes asked.  
  
"Uh-huh. But I don't do that, it's considered rude." She stopped shading, and tapped the pencil against her chin. " The ability developed in me not too long ago....it usually doesn't come up until a subject hits puberty. And it's fairly rare, even in Thamasa. A telepath has the ability to get inside the minds of others, and they're also very skilled at other things. Like my art...because of that, grandpa thought I might be telepathic, but he had to wait until I got a bit older to be sure. When I was twelve, that's when it started." She did some detailing around the eyes. "But only you two and grandpa know. I don't want the others to find out, they might be afraid to be around me."  
  
Celes put her arms around Relm's small shoulders and gave her a sisterly hug. " Never...why would you think that?"  
  
"Well, people are afraid you can read all their thoughts, and everybody have things in themselves that they like to hide. I don't want people to be afraid that I'd stumble across some deep-down secret in them. So I just keep my mouth shut instead." She examined the picture critically, nodded in approval, and signed it in the lower left corner. " Here you go, Terra. Maduin." She carefully ripped the picture out of the sketchbook, and handed it to the ex-Esper. Terra looked at the picture  
  
A smile slowly crept over Terra's face. The picture was absolutely beautiful. " Relm this is wonderful....thank you so much." She gave the girl a hug. "I want to show it to the others. Is that okay?"  
  
"Sure, just don't tell them how I knew what Maduin looked like."  
  
"I won't." She stood up. "Where's Edgar?"  
  
Celes pointed to the ceiling with a slender finger. "Flying. I think he's still spooked from what happened earlier, so he volunteered. Probably to be alone."  
  
"I think I should talk to him, to see if he's all right."  
  
"Suit yourself." She then turned back to look at Relm's sketchbook.  
  
Picture still held in her hands, Terra wandered up the ladder to the deck of the Falcon. It was now dark, and the moon had risen just above the horizon, making it appear huge as it hovered above the dark waters of the ocean. It cast the entire deck in a soft blue-white glow, much like the ooze in the cave, but with a more peaceful atmosphere. Edgar stood at the wheel, his pale blonde ponytail looking almost silver in the moonlight as it whipped behind him in the wind. Even though it was cool, the young king had left his cloak below decks, and stood in his royal finery. Terra clutched the picture to her chest, and wondered what to say to him. While she could manage children well enough, she was never good at talking to adults when they were upset. She saw his shoulders rise and fall as he sighed, and decided that saying anything would be better than saying nothing. "Edgar?"  
  
The young king turned slightly to catch her out of the corner of his eye, then turned back towards the front of the ship. "Hello, Terra."  
  
She came up to stand beside him. "So this is where you are..."  
  
"Yeah." The normally jovial king was silent as he rested his hands on the wheel. Terra looked at his hands, at the confident way they steered the ship's course. No wonder he came up here...it seemed almost like a security blanket to him. It was obvious that when Edgar was near any kind of machinery, he felt at peace. "What do you have there?" He asked, looking at the paper she held against her chest.  
  
Terra stopped the examination of his hands, and held the paper out so he could see, holding it tightly so the wind wouldn't whip it out of her hands. " It's my father...the Esper Maduin. Relm drew it for me."  
  
"It's a very lovely picture, Terra. Just be careful with it, you don't want it to blow away up here."  
  
That's it? He didn't even add "It's not as lovely as you", which Terra expected him to say. He didn't even try to act charming around her ever since the incident in the cave. Maybe he was embarrassed, or maybe he was just not up to his normal tricks. "Good advice." She said, not knowing what else to say. She carefully folded up the paper, and slipped it inside her sleeve, and then looked up at Edgar. His eyes seemed dark and withdrawn, his lips pressed together tightly. "Are you going to be all right?"  
  
He sighed softly, slowing the ship to a hover, and closed his eyes. "No." he said truthfully. "At the moment, no. I just need time."  
  
"Edgar, what happened when that stuff touched you? You're not hurt, are you?"  
  
He remained silent for a moment, then nodded to answer her question, opening his eyes. "It didn't hurt me physically. It's more of a mental thing. I heard voices inside my head...they blamed me for things that happened. They blamed me for Kefka, they blamed me for people dying, they blamed me for homes lost. I didn't know how to respond, so I tried to push them out of my mind, even as I tried to get that substance off my hand. Then two voices came to me." He slowly took in a deep breath, and exhaled sharply. "I heard my parents, Terra. They talked to me too."  
  
She looked at him with sympathy in her green eyes. "Did they blame you too?"  
  
"No". He said in a low voice. "They...said something my brother once accused me of. He said that I never cared for my parents, that....that I only wanted to be king." Edgar closed his eyes, clenching his teeth. "They said this to me, they said that I never loved them. They said that the would never be proud of me. I never thought..." He stopped, trying to maintain his composure. Terra reached out and gently touched his cheek, not knowing any words to say. He opened his icy blue eyes partway, and Terra could see that once again they held tears. "Terra..."  
  
She dropped her hand and folded her arms around him. At first he stiffened, as if not expecting this gesture of empathy from her, then he relaxed and put his arms around her shoulders, resting his head against her soft green hair. "I did love them Terra," he said in a thick whisper next to her ear. "I tried to tell them, but they didn't listen."  
  
"I believe you. It's all right, I believe you." That was all she could say to him, and all she could do for him was stand on the deck and let him hold her. 


	4. The Flow of Life

CHAPTER THREE  
  
The Flow of Life  
  
They reached Thamasa late that night, and they group dispersed between the inn and Strago's house for places to stay the night, while Setzer remained on board his airship. Strago carefully placed the bottle of liquid on the kitchen countertop, and put a bell jar over the top of it in make sure it didn't try anything strange. Locke leaned on his knees to peer at the bottle, which was still wrapped in his blue and white bandanna. Even through the heavy cloth, the ooze gave off that strange glow.  
  
"This is some weird shit." he said quietly, so not to wake the others in the next room. "I don't know why, but I have a feeling that this might be what we're looking for."  
  
Strago gave a crooked smile. "Not a scrap of magic in you anymore, and you feel that way too? I think you're right, though: this is probably the right place to start. I'm glad that Gau brought up the earthquakes on the Veldt, although whether this is tied to them or not still remains to be seen."  
  
"Strange how it glows like that, isn't it? You'd think that once we put it in a bottle, or at least away from the rest of the ooze it would lose its glow."  
  
"It's not like a fire, it doesn't go out when it's taken away from heat or air. It's something completely different, and I have my suspicions on what it is."  
  
Locke nodded. "I think everybody's come up with a theory for this gunk, but probably the only person that really knows what it is or what it does is Edgar, and he doesn't want to talk about what happened."  
  
"If something strange started crawling up your arm and talking to you, wouldn't you want to try to forget about it?"  
  
"I guess you have a point there." He stood up straight. "I'd best get to bed, before Celes comes and drags me off by my ear."  
  
"Don't you want your bandanna back?"  
  
He scratched at his sandy-colored hair. " Nah. Keep it. Besides, I need to let my head get fresh air every once in a while."  
  
* * *  
  
The next morning the ooze, bottle, bandanna, bell jar and all was moved to the Elder's house and placed on a table, where several mages crowded around it to squint at the glowing fluid curiously. Strago joined the other mages in their inspection, every once in a while adding his comments to the babble that rose above their heads. Celes stood off to the side, fascinated by the whole ordeal while Relm sat at the far end of the room with her sketchbook, capturing the moment on paper.  
  
Edgar stood in the doorway, watching the commotion. He had pointedly avoided the rest of the group ever since the ooze had spoke to him, more out of trying to regain his self-respect more than out of embarrassment. Strangely, the only person that had talked to him about it was Terra. He figured she would be the last one to offer him any sort of comfort, since Sabin was usually the one who would find him and talk to him. He hadn't been that upset in twelve years. Perhaps Sabin knew that he wanted to be alone, or at least thought that's what he wanted. His brother probably would of been the ideal person to talk to, and when he heard somebody come up on deck he thought it was Sabin. It was almost a surprise when he saw that Terra stood there, clutching the picture Relm gave to her, with a searching look in her large green eyes. She had looked lovely in the moonlight, but Edgar was too wrapped in his own thoughts to actually comment.  
  
He sighed, and shifted his weight. Why did she do that to him? He always had been, well....smitten with her, although his demeanor just made it seem as if she was just another pretty face to him. At least at this point, he felt that she valued him as a friend, but that's as close as it got. It never seemed to him that she took him seriously. He wasn't trying to talk her in circles by being gentlemanly or pleasant, he was simply being Edgar. Apparently what Edgar thought "being Edgar" is was much different than what Terra thought. Maybe after last night, she would know that he was more than just a stuffed peacock that set his eyes on every skirt that passed before him. Maybe she would realize that he could act human, no....that he was human.  
  
The subject of his thoughts poked her head into the doorway next to him, and looked around the room critically. "Are they doing anything to that goop, or just staring at it?" She stood on her toes, trying to see over the heads of the excited mages.  
  
Since he was several inches taller than her, and most in the room, Edgar could clearly see what they were doing. "They just seem to be looking at it right now. Nobody seems to want to poke and prod at it yet. It's still in that bottle, and in a jar. I can't say I blame them."  
  
Terra narrowed her eyes, squinting straight ahead at the mages. "There's a lot of magical energy in this room. The mages are trying all sorts of things with their minds, since they know that magic isn't dead. Maybe they think that green liquid is magic too."  
  
"Is that what you think?"  
  
She nodded. "I can feel it. It doesn't feel exactly like magic, but more like..." she sighed. "Here, let's go outside and talk about it. I don't want them to hear my theory, and then jump on my back to get more information out of me."  
  
Edgar looked at the group huddled around their new toy, and then stepped outside with her. After they had walked to the enormous fir tree in the center of town, Terra leaned against it and stared at the ocean in the distance. "I think I know why it was talking to you."  
  
He propped his arm against the tree next to her, and rested his head against his hand. "You do?"  
  
"Yeah, I have an idea, anyway. When you cast magic...or when we used to cast magic, we used a kind of essence. We have two essences in our bodies, our soul essence, and our life essence. When we all learned magic from the Espers, they lent us their remaining soul essences before they died, the essences that were contained inside the magicite. That's what magicite was. With life energy gone, the soul energy had to go somewhere, so...." She looked up at him. "Tell me, do you remember how magicite felt when you touched it?"  
  
He idly toyed with a piece of his hair, and thought back their fighting days. " Hmm, I think I do. To me, they felt....warm. Sort of tingly."  
  
"Exactly. And how did that goop in the cave feel when you touched it?"  
  
A small smirk crept across his face once he got the meaning of the discussion. "Very, very similar. So is that green stuff what the magicite turned into?"  
  
"Maybe something close. We all have life and soul energy within us, magic or not. Maybe that stuff is what happens to all the life and soul energy after it leaves the body, after death."  
  
"That has a sort of logic to it, but why didn't it appear until just now?"  
  
She chewed on her lip for a minute, trying to think of an answer. " Maybe....because it never had a reason to show up before. Maybe, because this is what Strago said, because magic is being reborn. And maybe because after death, souls have no place to go. The other side used to be maintained by the three goddesses, but now that they're gone, there's nobody to maintain the realm of the dead. So the souls of the dead go into the ground, from where the bodies are buried, and they've converged into that goop."  
  
Edgar was amazed at this woman's thinking. At first glance, many would think Terra wasn't overly bright, which obviously was a ruse of hers. "I didn't know you thought this deeply, Terra. I never thought you to be one to formulate a complicated hypothesis. I probably couldn't even think that one up."  
  
"You don't think it's a crazy idea?"  
  
He took her hand and kissed it. "No. I think it's one of the most intelligent things I've heard anybody say."  
  
She rewarded him with a soft smile. "How are you feeling today?"  
  
"Much better. The whole incident effected me psychologically, but it's nothing that I can't pass off."  
  
"Good, because those people in there are going to want to ask you questions."  
  
He sighed ruefully. "Of course, since I was the only idiot that touched that guk." He ran his thumb over the tops of her knuckles, and she pulled her hand back, obviously not comfortable. There she goes again, he thought. Had me going for a minute, and then she shoots me down. "You know, if they're going to ask me questions, I'm going to make them listen to your theory." He said in a more businesslike tone, trying to remove the discomfort he set upon her.  
  
"I don't know if they'd like my theory. Usually men don't like to listen to the opinions of women, especially old dry ones like those mages."  
  
"I'll make them listen if I have to, and where did you get such ideas? A woman's opinion is as good as any man's, and sometimes better. It's a sound theory, Terra, and it's something worth looking into. If this liquid is really the magical energy in our bodies after we die, then maybe we can find a way to use it." She nodded in response, and he offered her his arm. "Let's go back to talk to them about it, and get the others on the way. Maybe they have ideas too, hopefully ones that'd back up yours."  
  
* * *  
  
The room all looked up at her dumbly as she got up in front of them to explain her idea. Terra rubbed at her arm nervously, trying not to make eye contact with too many of them. She always felt uneasy when speaking in front of groups of people, even if half the group was her friends. She turned to look at Edgar, who stood against the wall to her right. He nodded at her, and she gave a small sigh. Might as well tell them.  
  
"As Edgar told you all, I have an idea what this green fluid is. While I'm no scientist or even a full-blown mage like some of you here, I do know what magic is, and what it feels like. It's part of me being who I am." She looked at the vial inside the bell jar, wrapped in the bandanna. "It used to be that when we died, our souls passed over to the other side, to the realm of the dead. Now that the three goddesses are gone, the realm of the dead doesn't exist anymore, and the souls have no place to go. Not only the souls, but the energies of our bodies. We have two energies: soul energy, and life energy. These two essences are in every living thing, and when things used to die, those essences would travel with souls to the realm of the dead." She turned back to her audience, a little more sure of herself. "When Edgar touched the green liquid, voices spoke to him. I believe that is because that liquid is what's left of us when we die...the parts that don't decompose: the soul, and our essences." Terra turned to Edgar. "You heard the souls of the dead speaking to you."  
  
Edgar visibly paled, and nodded. "They weren't happy either. They seemed fairly upset about dying, or maybe being upset at being turned into goop."  
  
"The whole thing sounds ludicrous to me." one of the older mages said with a disdainful sniff. "If that's what happened, then why is this green stuff only appearing now? Plenty of people would of died since the goddesses perished. Why isn't the planet overflowing with this stuff?"  
  
"Maybe because of reincarnation." Strago offered. "The realm of the dead used to house souls until they were ready to be reborn into the world as new people and animals. Maybe the whole world isn't flooded in green ooze because the ooze is only a temporary state. Things die, souls converge for a while, and then they're reborn...just like they always have. The flow of life continues no matter what."  
  
The other mage grumbled to himself, but didn't reply.  
  
Relm closed her sketchbook and drummed her fingers on the cover. "Then this stream of life idea might be the answer to some of our questions. If it has our magical energies when we die, just like magicite had the Espers' magical energy, isn't it possible for us to get magic from it?"  
  
"Forget it." Sabin said. "I'm not even going to get near that life stream stuff. And I don't want anybody else to....not after what it did to my brother."  
  
"Maybe it can be refined in some sort of way." the Elder said. "Your so- called " lifestream" may be damaging in its original form, but it can probably be made into something else. We do things to it, like water. Normal seawater is toxic for humans and animals to drink, but when treated and refined in a plant, it becomes drinkable and completely safe." He stood with the aid of a cane, and looked at his fellow mages. "I think this is definitely something to take into consideration. Of course the theory that this young woman had about lifestream will have to be tested, but so far there are many factors backing her idea up. Also, a way to refine the liquid into something similar to magicite might be beneficial to the entire world. Many things were destroyed because of the apocalypse, and many problems have arisen. I always have been one to follow the old ways, so I believe that even though the dark side of magic nearly destroyed the world, the light side of it can heal it. All right gentlemen, I suggest we get to work." He turned to Edgar. "King Edgar, I would like to talk to you about lending some of your engineers to us, so perhaps both our old ways and your new technology can refine this new raw energy provided to us."  
  
"No problem. I was going to suggest it, actually."  
  
"I think we're adjourned, ladies and gentlemen. I thank you for your time" The Elder crossed the room to Edgar, to immediately discuss matters. Terra watched the two talk. surprised that they had actually listened to her. Usually she was invisible to men when she spoke, but they had not only listened to her idea, they decided to follow it up with a plan. The only person who had objected was one of the ratty old mages, obviously somebody who was too self-important to listen to anyone else's thoughts. Terra smiled at the man across the room pleasantly and felt a small surge of triumph. The man looked at her coldly, muttered something to himself, and left. Oh well, you can't please everybody.  
  
"'Atta girl, Terra!" Locke said cheerfully, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I don't even know where you got that theory, but man....it makes sense, and it explains a lot of things."  
  
"It doesn't exactly explain everything, does it? Like why Celes, Relm and myself became ill for a while."  
  
"Sure it does. The way I look at it, it was a reaction to the souls moving from one place to another. All that magical energy shifting around made you three uneasy, and effected your bodies." He looked out the window at the crotchety old mage that had objected. "Don't let busybodies like him put you down, Terra. Just because one guy says something contrary to what you think, doesn't mean you have to take it to heart."  
  
"Yeah, everybody's entitled to an opinion, I guess..." She watched as Sabin approached her, and gave him a small smile. "I think we're getting somewhere with this."  
  
"Maybe." the muscular man said. "How come you knew that Edgar heard voices when he touched it? He didn't say that to me."  
  
"He did mention that the, ahem, " lifestream" started to get inside his head and talked to him." Locke said. "We all heard him say it."  
  
"Yeah, but I came up to talk to him later, and he said that it was probably his imagination. He said the shock of it is what upset him, since it felt so odd."  
  
"I just talked to him about it." Terra said slowly. "I decided not to share our conversation, because he would probably do the same for me. It's nothing against you, Sabin. I just think Edgar didn't want to scare you, so he told you a little white lie about what happened. I think you really wouldn't want to know what he heard anyway."  
  
"Understood." The big man fixed his short ponytail. "You two hungry? Because I'm starving."  
  
* * *  
  
Dusk settled over the town of Thamasa, bathing everything in a gray light. Birds sleepily found roosts for the night, and people were spending the quiet ours after dinner peacefully within their homes. Occasionally, a person would walk down the limestone-paved streets, taking careful steps in the near-darkness, since the torches hadn't been lit yet. No one paid any mind to another figure walking down the street in a hurry, since the figure was just another familiar face in the small town.  
  
Caezin muttered to himself as he walked. He always muttered to himself, probably because he was much better of a conversationalist than others. He was going to present a very similar theory to the elder on the green liquid, the stuff now labeled "lifestream", but then that green-haired witch had come up with something more sound, and took all the credit. He knew that she used to be an Esper, oh how he knew. The Espers could play mind tricks, and that woman probably used one on the crowd a few hours ago. But not on him, oh no, such trickery didn't work on somebody with such an advanced mind as his. That's why he was chosen out of the thousand of candidates around the planet, that's why he held power. The master had been gone for a while, but he was now back in a new form, with new intents. With better intents. Caezin licked his lips, and thought of his rewards when he reported what he found to the master. He would gain more power, be permitted more magic. The very thought of using raw magic again made him dance a little jig with glee, right in the middle of the street in front of his house. Power! That was the only thing that mattered in this world, he had known that for years now.  
  
The mage shuffled into his house quickly, and shut the door behind him. That witch had many people on her side, but so did he. People with power, not the hodge podge of freaks from all over the world that SHE had. She even had a pet moogle, the bitch. Such animals were not to be tamed, and yet the Esper bitch had a moogle. And droves of men....who knows how many of them fawn at her feet, or visit her bed in the night? She had them in her grasp, and such a grasp was not good. That meant that the master had competition. He had to do something to warn him of it. No, to stop it. If he stopped that Esper and then went to the master with her broken body, the rewards for him would be spectacular. Perhaps more than just magic, perhaps the kind of power that went with money. Money is power, after all. Caezin hurried up his stairs, heart beating quickly. It would be risky, yes...but in the end it would be completely worth it.  
  
He rummaged through the chest at the end of his bed, looking for the sacred cloth, the clothing of the chosen. After a moment, he pulled it out triumphantly with trembling hands, eyes filling with tears as he looked at the green and white robes. "I will not fail you, master." he whispered. Glancing around furtively, he held the clothing to his chest. The witch could have spies anywhere...even in here. He'd best be quick. The mage donned the heavy white robes, and slipped on the green mantle over them, sighing with an almost perverse pleasure. They always felt so right on him, like he was born to serve the master. He placed the pointed cap on top of his head, and drew the green veil in front of his nose, making him blend with the robes themselves.  
  
Caezin smiled underneath his sacred robes. Tonight was the night, before the witch had any other plans set in motion, he would plan put an end to her and her influence. Then he would find the master. "You'll regret crossing me, bitch..." he muttered to himself as he began to deftly weave symbols in the air with his hands. Caezin uttered the key words to release the spell, and vanished in a flash of white light. 


	5. The Magic Touch

CHAPTER FOUR  
  
The Magic Touch  
  
Setzer stared at the wood-paneled ceiling of his cabin in the Falcon, the cabin that used to belong to Daryl, with an annoyed expression. Morning. Morning was something the gambler would definitely abolish if at all possible, but apparently it was necessary to stop evening and afternoon from bumping in to each other. Mornings sucked, in Setzer's own words, especially when you couldn't remember where you were the night before. This morning, however, Setzer took only a minute to realize where he was, and what he was doing. The sound of surf pounding against craggy rocks on the beach that used to be the road to Thamasa indicated that the Falcon was still parked just on the cliff edge, right outside of town. Setzer continued to stare at the ceiling, and scratched at the silvery-white stubble that sprouted on his chin. This would make their third day at Thamasa since Terra's little " life stream" speech. The third long day.  
  
Setzer wondered if any of his companions were as bored as he was. Sabin probably was, but he did his best to politely help his brother with their little lifestream project. Mog had the attention span of a tree stump, so the moogle probably dancing his little white ass off someplace just to keep his sanity. Locke had Celes to keep him company, so he never seemed overly bored when she was nearby. Strago was just as deeply involved with this lifestream refining project as Edgar was, being the highest mage in Thamasa. Cyan just seemed to stand off to the side like Setzer did, obviously not the least bit interested in the whole process of experimenting with that damned green goop, although the warrior did seem to take an interest in the library here. Relm and Gau seemed to hang out with each other a bit often, now that the boy had finally started acting like a human being. The only person that didn't seem to be doing anything to entertain themselves, strangely enough, was Terra. The whole theory to the lifestream and the one person who probably would understand it more than anybody else distanced herself from what was going on, and many times couldn't even be found. Setzer knew where she went, though.....he had seen her once or twice at Leo's gave. She obviously missed the kind-hearted general, and very obviously had some feelings for him when he was alive, although she never came to grips with it until recently. Setzer could read faces, even Terra's enigmatic one, so he knew just by the look in her eyes, the shape of her mouth....even the way she stood. He had seen her face when he stumbled across her at the grave. She smiled at him and tried to cover her tracks, but he knew. He didn't have the heart to tell Terra that she had fallen in love with not only a dead man, but a dead man that even if he was alive wouldn't have time for a love life. Not yet, anyway.  
  
The gambler rolled out of bed, and shuffled off to get dressed and shave. Damned mornings....he would of just stayed in bed, but sooner or later somebody would come up to the Falcon to disturb him. He knew his companions too well....damn morning people. Except Locke, but that poor bastard was always dragged out of bed as well by the others, usually Celes. Oh well, at least Setzer wasn't alone.  
  
When he had dressed and cleaned up, he walked down the hall to the main hatch in the side of the ship, and pressed the button to open it. He absently noted that the door mechanism would need some tinkering with as the door lowered down shakily, making a steep staircase that descended to the ground. Setzer stepped out into the morning light, and blinked frantically, squinting in the sun. His eyes were sensitive enough to the light as it was, and here he was walking directly into it, the sun directly in front of him. Maybe he should of parked the Falcon facing south, so the door would face west, where there was no goddamn sun in the morning.  
  
He walked into town, his long gold-trimmed black trenchcoat trailing behind him, slightly ruffled by a breeze off the ocean. Standing in the middle of the road was Mog, and as Setzer had guessed, the little beast was dancing, while a crowd of youngsters clapped and laughed. Little shit, he'd to anything for attention.  
  
Mog stopped dancing as the gambler approached, and gave an annoying little wave. Critters always annoyed Setzer, but he never let on. "Kupo....mornin', Setzer."  
  
"Morning. Dancing this early?"  
  
"....po, there's nothing else to do after breakfast here, except wait for lunch. So I dance between meals. At least I don't get fat that way." He patted his round little tummy. What the hell DID a fat moogle look like anyway, Setzer thought. "But anyway, if you're looking for the others, they're all over the place."  
  
"Thanks. Have fun dancing."  
  
The moogle made a squeaky little sound and did a handspring, breaking into a few more dance moves as Setzer walked away while averting his eyes. Mog could get adoration from the group of 10-year-olds clustering around him, but it would take more than some relative cuteness to snag Setzer's attention. The gambler walked on.  
  
He passed the library without stopping. As interesting as Cyan could be at times, generally conversation with him was boring and dry. He didn't persue the finer things in life: alcohol, women, games. It was sad, really. Cyan probably would of made a fine companion of he learned to live a little bit. Still, the fact that he lost his family two years ago affected his overall lifestyle, and Setzer figured that the tall warrior was doing his best to set a good example for Gau.  
  
The gambler stopped and looked around. The cemetery stood to his left, and the grove of poplars that housed the lonely resting place of Leo was on his right. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was standing among the trees to his right. Terra stood with her back to him, the morning sun filtering through the trees, bathing her in a dappled light. Her hair, which wasn't exactly green, but more like green-tinted blond, waved slowly in the morning breeze. She looked pretty good standing there. Terra always had been pretty hot, although Setzer didn't exactly think so the first time he saw her. The first time he saw her she was in her Esper form, a beautiful white-furred thing with lavender eyes and streaks of magenta running through her unruly hair. Beautiful in a certain extent, but not attractive in any physical way. She was also fairly stupid for the first few months she traveled with the gambler, but as time went on she regained her memories and her intelligence. After a while, he had developed respect for her. By the end of their mission, he could almost claim to love her. Almost. He still had a place in his heart for Daryl, nobody could replace that. Terra was completely different than Daryl, but she fascinated Setzer none the less.  
  
He wouldn't tell her, though. It was something he'd keep to himself, for the time being anyway. Maybe when they left Thamasa, he'd offer her an invitation to travel with him and see the sights of the world. Maybe then, he'd let her know.  
  
"Why are you standing behind me?" She said quietly, obviously aware of his presence.  
  
"Because if I stand in front of you, I'd be obscuring your view." The pale- faced gambler took a few steps forward to stand at her side. She held a few small blue wildflowers in her hand, idly stroking the tiny petals with a fingertip. Terra's eyes were distant as she gazed at the gold-hilted sword embedded in the cairn before them. "Do you really miss him that much?"  
  
"I think the world misses him that much, Setzer. He did so much for the people."  
  
"And I think you nicely evaded that question."  
  
She looked up at him with her grass-green eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"C'mon Terra, I can read you like a book. I know how you feel about Leo."  
  
She lowered her face into the handful of flowers, closing her eyes. Even her eyelashes had that odd green tint, making the flowers seem more blue. " ...am I really that obvious?"  
  
He plucked a flower from under her nose, and twirled it between his thumb and index finger. "To me, yeah. To everybody else, probably not."  
  
She sighed. "It's not what it was...now it's more like.....regret. But he told me things that helped me find who I was, he helped me feel. How could you not feel something for the person who taught you how to feel?"  
  
"I don't know if this is the answer you want Terra, I can only say that you feel the way you do, because you are who you are. Nobody can teach you to feel, that's something you do yourself. The potential is inside you, always."  
  
She plucked the head off of one of the flowers, and flicked it away. "I see. I thought you would understand where I'm coming from..." She paused. "Don't you miss Daryl at all?"  
  
His voice was quiet. "Of course I miss her. I miss her every day, but she's not the one who opened up my heart to the world. I'm the one who did that, it's part of growing up."  
  
Terra dropped the wildflowers and watched as they flitted down to the grass. "I guess I'm still not fully human." Her voice was steady, but Setzer could tell from the way that her mouth formed the words that she was upset.  
  
He lifted up her chin and forced her to look into his steel-gray eyes. "Don't say that. Don't even think it. You're more human than many people I've met....you've shown so many times that you care for others and that you care for the world, that you shouldn't even consider doubting yourself." His eyes held her there for a second, and then she finally nodded. "Sometimes, I feel a little lost, like you. But I don't cave in on myself. Life is full of its ups and downs, that's why we go through with it, for the thrill....even when we do have our low moments. Low moments like these are why we have friends."  
  
"Friends..." she said.  
  
"Yeah. We're here for you, just as I am right now. If you ever feel lost, regretful, or even just....down, talk to me. Talk to Celes. Talk to any of us, just don't gnaw on your problems in your own little corner."  
  
She looked at him, trying to find any traces of mockery in him, but found nothing but sincerity. Apparently this gambler was more than he seemed, and did more than live life for its roguish qualities. "I....understand now." She gave Leo's grave a glance through her blond-green eyelashes, and sighed. "Then maybe....I should let go."  
  
"Letting go is one thing. Moving on is another. You don't have to discard what you feel entirely."  
  
Finally, she smiled. "Thank you, Setzer."  
  
He tucked the blue wildflower behind her ear, and gave her a dazzling smile that looked like it belonged on a wolf somewhere. "No charge. It's what friends do." He brushed past her, heading back in to town.  
  
"Setzer," she called after him.  
  
He stopped. "Yeah?"  
  
"Wait up, I'll walk with you." She jogged up to him, her boots somewhat loud on the white cobblestones.  
  
He turned and gave her a slight bow, not mocking in the least. "Hey, a lady is always welcome to walk with me."  
  
She laughed. "You've been around Edgar too much."  
  
"Not at all, I'm always this way." He said as they headed to the inn.  
  
* * *  
  
"I don't get it....why isn't it reacting to my touch?"  
  
"Maybe it doesn't like you anymore."  
  
"Shut up, Locke; if this stuff isn't going to behave like it did before, then there's no point in tinkering with it." Edgar prodded the lifestream with his bare finger, trying to get it to speak to him like it did in the cave. " Damn. Maybe it wears out or something over time. It has been here three days after all."  
  
Strago peered at the beaker of lifestream. "It's possible that it's run out of energy....although it hasn't exactly lost its glow yet."  
  
"Lemme see," Relm said, trying to push her way through the group of people clustered around the table.  
  
"Hasn't it? It seems less glowey than it did in the cave when I scooped it up." Locke commented. "Maybe it ran out of gas, like Edgar said."  
  
"Lemme see," Relm demanded.  
  
"Although, it doesn't seem to be any cooler. Look at the thermometer." Said one of Edgar's chemists, a man by the name of Rickard.  
  
"C'mon, lemme see!"  
  
Locke poked at the fluid. "So it's still warm. Maybe because Edgar keeps poking at it. He has huge hands, they probably give off a lot of heat."  
  
"If that was a jab directed at me, you're losing your touch, Cole."  
  
"MOVE ASIDE AND LET ME SEE!!!"  
  
The group parted so the girl could get to the edge of the table, and examine the lifestream. She touched it briefly, closing her eyes.  
  
"What's she doing?" Locke whispered to Strago.  
  
"Something that actually makes a lot of sense." the old man muttered back. "I should of asked her to try this before."  
  
Relm opened her eyes, and turned to her grandfather. "It's dormant. Apparently if you take it away from the rest of the lifestream, it'll stop giving off direct energy. It's starting to harden too....see? It's a bit more....um..."  
  
"Viscous." Edgar offered.  
  
"Yeah. Viscous. It's getting like Jello not too long after you put it in the fridge." She touched it again. "Hm, now the energy isn't sent out as psy waves anymore, it's only sent out as light and heat."  
  
Locke looked puzzled. "Psy waves?"  
  
"The type of brain waves telepaths use. That's how it communicated with Edgar in the first place, by transmitting psy waves to him. Like the radio on Setzer's ship can transmit messages from his ship to another."  
  
"Do telepaths actually exist?" Rickard asked with mild curiosity.  
  
"I guess anything's possible...." Edgar said.  
  
"Yes." Relm replied. "They do."  
  
"Well then," Rickard said, rubbing his hands together. "Since this thing is dormant, and it communicates through these psy waves, why don't we find a telepath and ask them to talk to the lifestream? Maybe they can figure out how to harness its energy."  
  
"This'll be fun." Relm grinned.  
  
"Oh no you don't, young lady." Strago interjected. "What if it gets into your mind and you can't remove it?"  
  
"Oh, don't spoil my fun Grandpa. The techno people and even the magic people tried their best, so now it's my turn. Let me try."  
  
"Excuse me," Locke murmured mildly. "but is Relm a telepath?"  
  
Yes, a voice said inside of his head. The thief jumped back with a startled yelp.  
  
Knock it off Locke, Relm's voice echoed inside his head. I won't hurt you.  
  
"Arg. Cut it out, kid.....get out of my head."  
  
"Sorry." Relm said with a dimpled smile. " I just had to.....it's so rare when somebody catches Mr. Treasure Hunter off guard." She looked at Edgar and his technician. "Yes, I'm a telepath. No, I can't read your thoughts....that requires too much effort, and yes, I can sort of communicate with the lifestream, but only to an extent. I can only tell you that it's dormant, and it won't give off any energy unless you draw it out."  
  
Edgar looked at the apparently dormant lifestream, and then looked at Relm again. "Draw it out? This isn't coal or oil, Relm."  
  
"I didn't mean burn it, silly. Here, let me show you." She adjusted her kerchief in a businesslike manner, and extended a hand to Locke. "May I please use one of your daggers for a moment?"  
  
The thief looked puzzled, but plunked a short-hilted dirk in her outstretched hand anyway. Relm tested the edge of it with her thumb, and nodded in satisfaction. She then laid the blade against the back of her left hand and neatly drew it across, wincing in pain as she slit her own flesh open.  
  
Strago made a strangled sound. " Goddess....Relm, what are you doing??"  
  
She wiped the dirk clean on the hem of her skirt. "Don't worry, grandpa. I know what I'm doing." Relm bit her lip as she handed the dirk back to Locke. "That hurt more than I thought it would. Oh well." The girl reached out to touch the green liquid with her right hand, and closed her eyes. At first nothing happened, and the four of them stood there somewhat doubtfully, watching her. Then the flask of lifestream began to give off that pale green glow, and there was a small movement near the floor. At Relm's feet waves of pale green energy, the same color as the lifestream, undulated in a myriad of color and light. A faint hissing sound was heard as the waves of light ruffled her clothing and hair. Relm opened her eyes and focused on her wounded left hand with an intent expression.  
  
"Cure," she whispered.  
  
Slowly at first but then with increasing speed, blood stopped oozing from the wound, absorbed back into the gash like a sponge. The skin pressed together, forming a white line that disappeared within seconds. Relm relaxed, exhaling slowly, and held up her now-healed hand for them to examine.  
  
"And that," she said. "is what I meant by extraction."  
  
"Crimeny..." Rickard muttered. Nobody said anything else, they just stood and gaped at her, dumbfounded.  
  
"Oh, please don't let your mouths hang open like that, it's rude." She rubbed at her hand and sighed. "It's still not perfect....it itches a bit, and the feeling I got when casting it was different. But anyway gentlemen, I think we once again have access to magic." She gave them a dimpled smile. " We probably should go tell the others, don't you agree?"  
  
* * *  
  
"Fire," Terra muttered, trying to focus both on the small bottle of lifestream she held and the bush she was aiming at. The shrub made a snapping sound, and began to seethe smoke. Then it burst into flames, giving off the irritating smell of green wood burning.  
  
"Ice." Celes said, also holding a small vial of lifestream, which at this point was barely liquid, more like small balls of semi-liquid floating in waterlike fluid. There was a hissing sound from the burning plant, and steam rose up in tendrils from the withered branches, the flames dying. Ice formed in clumps on the leaves and branches, making them sag under the weight. The two women looked at each other.  
  
"It works..." Celes said with a grin that was like the sun coming up.  
  
"It does, doesn't it?" Terra's smile was just as big as Celes'.  
  
"Nice job, ladies." Locke commented, examining the sorry-looking bush. "I don't know about you, but this makes me feel like breaking out into a few dance moves." He wiggled his hips, making the two women laugh.  
  
"Don't get too excited, Cole." Edgar crossed his arms and looked down at the thief. "The three people that fell ill after Kefka are the only three that can use it so far. Maybe there's a connection.....maybe they're the only ones that can use this new magic."  
  
Locke's face contorted into what could almost be considered a pout. "Oh sure, rain on my parade..."  
  
"Don't be such a pessimist, brother. How do we know unless we try?" Sabin took the small flask of lifestream from Terra, and held it in one of his large hands. "Okay....lemme see if I can remember...." He closed his eyes, concentrating. "Bolt." he said after a moment, focusing on the tree.  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
The big man frowned. "That's not right....I thought that was the way you cast magic."  
  
"Maybe your brother's right." the thief said gloomily. "Maybe only the ladies can cast magic."  
  
Celes looked at Sabin critically. "I dunno...I did as Relm said, and it worked for me." She tapped a finger on his broad chest. "You have to feel it in here, sort of. You have to draw the magic out first, then send it through your body, and then direct it at your target."  
  
He sighed, closed his eyes, and concentrated again. This time a faint green glow was seen around his feet. " Bolt...?"  
  
"It's not a question, Sabin." Terra sighed. "You're not asking a favor, you're giving an order."  
  
He grumbled under his breath and pointed at the bush angrily, his blue eyes ablaze. "Bolt, goddammit!" Green waves of energy surged away from his feet, whipping the grass, and a thin white line of electricity jolted down from the clear sky out of nowhere, hitting the frail bush head on, sending chunks of frozen wood everywhere. The group of them stood there, stunned. Sabin just grinned.  
  
"Told you so." he said.  
  
Edgar frowned at his brother, and then ogled at the vial of lifestream in his hand. "Sabin, look at your bottle!"  
  
"What?" He held up the small glass bottle to examine it, his mouth falling open when he saw the contents. "Ohh great.....what'd I do?" Instead of the thick green fluid, a small orb the size of a walnut sat in the bottle, giving off the now-familiar green glow. Sabin shook the bottle, and the round object bounced around with a clinking sound. " Uh....is this a good thing?"  
  
His brother took the bottle and looked at the glowing orb inside. "I don't know, but getting it out of there'll be a pain."  
  
Celes held up her bottle, frowning. " Mine did it too...it's a little glowing ball thingy now." She held it up so Locke could see.  
  
"Hmm.....let me see that." He took the vial from her, shook it for a minute, and then smacked the neck of it down on a rock. Half of the bottle broke away, and the green sphere fell out, making a strange cystallike sound as it hit the white cobblestones. The thief picked it up. "Strange....it feels....cool. Not warm like it used to."  
  
"Is it....dead?" Edgar asked, watching as his brother removed his orb in a similar fashion.  
  
"I don't think so....it still feels tingly, but not the same way. It feels...huh...well...sort of how your mouth feels when you eat a mint."  
  
"What a wonderful way to put it." Setzer murmured.  
  
"Just for that, you don't get a little orb thingy." The thief rolled the orb in his hand. "Maybe..." he looked at the bush, and decided that a new target was needed. He found a rock conveniently placed on the edge of the road, and smirked. Narrowing his eyes, he concentrated. "Fire..."  
  
Once again, nothing happened. Setzer laughed. "Apparently you're not special like the others, Locke."  
  
Locke turned around to face Setzer, annoyed. He pointed at the gambler. " Yeah, well....ICE!!"  
  
Setzer's face contorted into shock as his skin turned blue from cold, and his long silver hair froze solid. He stood there, teeth chattering. "Y-you b-bastard!"  
  
The Treasure Hunter blinked in surprise at the frozen gambler. Then he doubled over in laughter.  
  
Celes took the orb from him. "Locke, that wasn't very nice."  
  
He didn't respond, just continued to laugh.  
  
Celes sighed. "Sorry, Setzer. If I knew he was going to do that, I wouldn't of let him take the orb from me."  
  
The gambler shook the ice crystals out of his hair, still shivering a bit. " It's okay, I guess. I deserved it, sort of. Anyway, if Locke and Sabin can use the lifestream to cast magic, that means that anybody can do it."  
  
"Don't forget, it's not lifestream anymore." Mog said from the tree he was sitting in. "It turned into little round crystals. Something that feels minty." He smirked at Locke.  
  
"Watch it moogle, lest I cast Ice upon thee." He held up the orb.  
  
Mog squeaked and hid in the sanctuary of the tree's branches, with Locke's laugher chasing after him. Celes sighed. "You're not behaving yourself very well today. Behave, or I'll take your new magic toy away."  
  
"Yes Ma'am."  
  
"Anyway, I think I've figured something out." she said, taking the orb from him anyway. "The magic we used on this material was infused into it, and it made these little orb things that spell...well, kind of. I mean, the spell Ice was put into this little orb thingy, so now the only thing it can be used for is casting Ice, since both Locke and I used it to cast that spell. It didn't work when he tried to use it for Fire."  
  
"What about mine?" Sabin asked. "Terra used it to cast Fire, and then I used it to cast Bolt. Why did it work for both?"  
  
"Because you are human, and she's an Esper witch." a voice said from the edge of the trees. They turned to the speaker, who turned out to be the old mage that tried to put Terra's theory down the day before. He stood with his back against a tree, arms crossed.  
  
"Caezin." Strago growled. "Don't you dare insult my friends."  
  
"Oh, sorry, would you prefer I insulted you instead?" He grinned, showing yellowed teeth and gaps where some were missing. "Words are fun, but I have a more entertaining method." He leered at the other mage, green energy surging around him. "Bio!"  
  
Strago gasped, and clutched at his chest as poison raged through his veins. Relm yelped and ran to his side, supporting him as he withered to the ground. Without thinking, Terra took a few steps forward, and pointed at her ill companion. "Remedy!" Green and yellow waves shot out from around her feet, whipping the grass growing in between the stones of the road. Strago was surrounded by a blue aura for a moment, and then it dissipated with a faint hissing sound. The now-healed mage stood up to face Caezin. "You go too far..."  
  
"Do I? You're the one cavorting with this Esper witch. You just saw her use magic without the use of Material, did you not?"  
  
Terra shook her head. "I..."  
  
"Material?" Strago snorted, changing the subject. "What on earth are you talking about?"  
  
"What your precious lifestream turns into, the source of all magic. What an idiot you are, Strago....you don't even know that. Obviously, the Esper witch has duped you, just like she's duped the others."  
  
Edgar strode towards Caezin angrily. " Stop calling her a "witch", you--" He was cut off by a Bolt spell from the mage, and sent flying back.  
  
"Watch it, you don't know who you're dealing with boy." Caezin said. "You're gone even worse than the others. Does she repay you for your service? Perhaps with sexual favors...?"  
  
Edgar sat on the ground angrily, still stunned from the Bolt attack. His brother ran up to Caezin before the mage could react, anger flaring in his blue eyes. With a yell, he picked up the old mage, jumped into the air, and slammed him down on the ground. "Get up, old fart! If you're so goddamn tough, then get up!" Sabin flexed his muscles threateningly.  
  
Caezin scrabbled backwards, his eyes wary. "Master, help me! They're stronger than I thought!"  
  
Strago looked at the blubbering old mage. "Master? Oh no..."  
  
Caezin grinned and looked skyward. " Yes....and He has answered....I leave with a gift from the Master for you..." He sketched a sigil in the air in front of him, then vanished, his eyes on Terra as he left. The group looked at each other, awestruck.  
  
"Master?" Mog said, getting down from in his tree.  
  
"INCOMING!" Locke yelped, pointing at the sky. The others looked up just in time to get hit full force by the Meteor spell, most of them driven to the ground by the rain of flaming fist-sized rocks. The only one that remained standing was Terra, who stood making no attempt to evade the falling fire. She clutched at her shoulders, hugging at herself and producing a snarl in the back of her throat. Then she looked up at the continuing Meteor spell. "NO!!" she shrieked, shooting off the orange-red aura that once indicated the use of magic while raising her arms. The terrible rain slowed, and then stopped. She stood there, breathing heavily, still staring at the sky with arms held high.  
  
Edgar groaned and sat up to look at her. "...Terra?"  
  
She lowered her arms slowly, falling to her knees. Her green eyes looked at him. "I'm sorry....I couldn't let them hurt us....I didn't mean..." she made a choking sound and rested her face in her hands, hiding her face.  
  
Edgar limped to her, ignoring his own pain, and put his arms around her. "It's all right...you saved us." Terra moaned and rested her face against his chest.  
  
Celes wiped blood from a gash on her cheek and crouched down next to the two to look at Terra. "That's right...who knows how long that spell would of gone on?"  
  
The former Esper looked at her, tears in her eyes. "But...he did it because of me. I should of never come here. I should of stayed in Mobliz."  
  
"Not because of you, Terra, because he's insane." Strago said from where he fell on the ground, leaning on one elbow. " He's been insane for years. I always thought he was harmless, but now..." He shook his head.  
  
Locke rubbed at an ugly purple bruise on his lower arm. "I think you saved our butts, Terra. Just take the thanks, not the blame."  
  
"No!" She pushed Edgar away from her, standing up. "You don't get it! It's because of me! He hurt you all because..." She bit her lip, tears welling up in her eyes, and then turned and fled, her boots seeming overly loud on the white cobblestone road. 


	6. Material Girl

CHAPTER FIVE  
  
Material Girl  
  
"They're so shiny..."  
  
"Don't stare at them too long, Celes. You won't be able to look away."  
  
She pouted. "But....shiny...! C'mon, they glow in the dark!"  
  
Locke ignored her overly cute pout, and crossed his arms. "There was a legend once, of a gem that had a dark soul. It drew people to it, and when they became absorbed in its glow, the jewel would capture their souls, and their wills."  
  
"That's just a legend."  
  
"I don't care....I see you ogling at the Material, and I'm reminded of a kid eyeing up a dish of candy before dinner, or a Zozo whore that finds a horny well-to-do looking for a fun night."  
  
She whacked him upside the head. "Don't you even compare me to a whore!"  
  
"Ow." He rubbed at his head. "My point is you don't need to sit here and stare at it all day like you've been doing." Locke crossed his arms. "I mean, what happened to my damn girlfriend? I thought that she had a thing for me but ooo.....some shiny rocks came along and suddenly Mr. Cole's history."  
  
She looked at the glowing green Material orbs in her hand, and then at him. "You're jealous of some magical rocks?"  
  
"Hell, yeah."  
  
Celes set the rocks back into the pile that they had made in the past few hours. So far the group had made "Fire", " Ice", "Bolt" and "Cure". Nobody tried any of the more complicated spells, since they only had so much lifestream to work with, although Rickart had dubbed the thicker version of the lifestream "Makoro" , which meant "magic energy" in some obscure language that was nearly forgotten. They were now out of lifestream and Makoro, and only had a pile of Material orbs instead, which still gave off a cold green glow. She sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just that this fascinates me. I thought you'd be into it as much as I am, since it seems to be worth something..."  
  
"Don't forget that I wasn't raised with magic powers. I'm not into the magical stuff as much as you are. Sure, I think this stuff is great, but I want to do other things, like talk to my friends."  
  
"Speaking of, did you try to talk to Terra?"  
  
"I would if I could find her, but she's made herself scarce ever since that incident this morning. I think she's embarrassed about it."  
  
Celes rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes contentedly. "Tell me, have you ever seen her cry before?"  
  
"No. That's why I think she's embarrassed, because she let a side of her show that she doesn't want us to see."  
  
"What side would that be?"  
  
Locke looked at the dish of Material on the table in front of them, and pushed it away with an index finger. "Her human side."  
  
* * *  
  
"How are you feeling?" Gau examined a bump on Mog's furry little head.  
  
"Kupo.....it hurts a bit, but the Cure Material Relm used on us all seemed to help some. You were lucky you weren't there, the guy that showed up was real creepy."  
  
Cyan stroked at his mustache thoughtfully. "'Twould seem that we missed the fun."  
  
"Fun? Po.....yeah right." The cat-like creature snorted. "If you call being hit with flaming rocks fun."  
  
"No, what I meant is that apparently we haven't disposed of all our enemies. I discussed the matter with Strago, and he told me that your friend is in some sort of organization."  
  
"Organization? What kind or organization would hit them with meteor spells?"  
  
"One that has a reason to hate us, Gau. One that hates Terra specifically....perhaps a cult of some kind, or perhaps a new brand of religion."  
  
Mog covered his pointed ears. "Ugh, I hate theology...."  
  
"I'd like to hear something about it, if you don't mind." A voice said from the doorway. Sabin walked in, a few bumps and bruises apparent on his bare arms and upper torso, evidence that even he was hit by "The Master's" meteor attack. The large man leaned against the wall near Gau, a look of interest on his face. "So, you think this was driven by some sort of religious leader?"  
  
Cyan shrugged. "It is a logical assumption, my friend. The fact that Terra was once half-Esper is a somewhat well-known fact by anyone who reads the newspaper, seeing that our exploits were published world-wide. In any case, there were many that feared the Espers after their accidental attacks on towns, resulting in something of a prejudice against them....including Terra. It's no wonder she wished to remain in Mobliz with merely those children for company; at least they would give her the due respect she deserves. Anywhere else, she would be shunned."  
  
Sabin frowned. "Bigotry against Terra? I don't want to believe it. Terra's such a sweet person."  
  
"Prejudice and hatred know no good in people. What of Sir Leo? Many were opposed to him at first, simply because of his race. It took some time for people to realize that he was a model human being and a kind gentleman. They finally accepted him as a true hero, once they got past the color of his skin."  
  
"So why not just stamp out the opposition against Terra, and get the world to like her?" Mog piped up.  
  
"'Tis not that easy, moogle. It would take months, nay....years to put her in the good of the public's eye."  
  
Mog smiled. "I got nuthin' to do for the next few years. Terra's my friend, and I'd like to help her."  
  
"Thy heart is noble, as are thy intentions, Sir Mog, but would thou be one to commit himself to such an arduous task?"  
  
"I sure would." Sabin said. "I think the little guy's got a point here. If some group is out to get Terra, we should try to find that group and eradicate it. I'm not gonna let something like this go on without notice, and I doubt that my brother or any of the rest of us would either." He looked down at the moogle. "So, you wanna bring your idea to the others?"  
  
The white-furred creature jumped up with an overly-adorable squeaky sound. " Would I ever! Let's get moving!" He then winced and rubbed at the bump on his head. "Owww......kupo..."  
  
* * *  
  
"Trust me, brother....this is a good idea."  
  
"Oh, I believe you Sabin.....it's just that I don't know if Terra wants help." The two of them were walking down the white cobblestone main street of Thamasa, which reflected back the pink color of the pre-dusk sky. Sabin, Mog, Gau and Cyan had gone about the town to find the rest of the group, and naturally Sabin went to find his brother first. Edgar had been standing in a spot where Terra could customarily be found: General Leo's grave. It was obvious that the blond king was looking for her, figuring that she would head there after her outburst. He hadn't found her there, but instead waited in hopes of bumping into her. After two hours or so, Sabin came to talk to him about stamping out this new faction against Terra.  
  
"Don't get me wrong....I want to help Terra as much as anybody else; but I know her, Sabin. I know that she wants to be left alone. The only reason she's here is because something affected her so directly she couldn't even carry on with her life, the same reason why Celes came here to talk to Strago. She doesn't get involved anymore."  
  
The larger brother sighed. "You might be right. Terra's not one to want help. But....that doesn't mean that we can't try, right?"  
  
Edgar shook his head and grumbled something.  
  
"Think, Edgar! What if this isn't something against Terra specifically? What if....well, what if this is another Kefka deal? That Caezin guy had a Master, we all heard him talk to him right before that meteor shower hit us. Don't you think this is a threat? C'mon, you're not one to stand nearby and do nothing."  
  
"No, I'm not one to do nothing, but when it comes to...." Edgar stopped in mid-sentence and sighed. "Forget it, you're right. Terra won't like it, but we can always say that we're doing it for the good of everybody. We get to play superheros again." They stopped walking when they reached the massive spruce tree planted in the town square. " All right, go for it. I'm in to the end, as always. See if you can find Rickart, and tell him that he has orders to return to Figaro, and he should gather his men working on the Lifestream project, and get packing." Edgar turned on his heel, and started to walk west, towards the setting sun.  
  
"And where are you going now? We have planning to do!"  
  
Edgar didn't even slow, but answered over his shoulder as he walked swiftly away. "To find Terra."  
  
* * *  
  
The sun was just touching the dark waters of the South Ocean when he found her. She was at the last place he had expected to find her: on the beach of the western side of the island, right next to the area the Falcon was parked in. In the strange orangy-pink light of the sunset, her hair almost looked like it was the color of honey, not the customary green-tinted mass everybody was used to. Edgar silently wondered what she would look like if Maduin wasn't her father....would she be blond-haired? Or would she have the same gravity that drew people to her....the pull she had that made people want to listen, to understand her? He sighed and shook his head. Thoughts aside, he was here to talk to her, not to evaluate her. He took a step towards her, but stopped short when she spoke.  
  
"I know you're there, Edgar." she said quietly, her knees drawn to her chest, arms resting upon them. Her chin sat lightly on her slender arms. "I thought I made it clear that I didn't want to be bothered."  
  
The king sat next to her in the sand, and shrugged. "You did, but then again, I didn't want to be bothered on the deck of the Falcon that other night. You came to me anyway. I thought I should do the same."  
  
She looked at him coldly, her eyes as green and stony as emeralds. "So I lick your wounds, you lick mine? Is that what you're saying?"  
  
"No no no....please don't misunderstand, Terra. I'm here out of concern, not out of a 'payback' for a favor."  
  
Terra lowered her eyes and focused them on the white lime sand. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't of snapped at you like that."  
  
"No apology needed, my lady." He looked at the sunset, the sun half-gone now. " Of all places, why did you hide here?"  
  
"I wanted to just once watch a sun set on the sea. I've never seen it, as strange as that sounds." She traced patterns in the sand with an index finger. "Um, I suppose you want me to explain a bit more. I think your question was supposed to be phrased as 'Why did you hide, Terra?'."  
  
Edgar said nothing, but watched the sun as it continued its slow decent, the orb looking like a poached egg on the horizon. Terra sighed, and he turned to look at her when she spoke again. "I came here because I'm afraid for my friends. I know somebody's after me, Edgar....and I don't want others to get hurt because of that. And....and also because I'm afraid I'll lose control of myself again."  
  
"Terra, please don't be afraid of such things. We are your friends, and we'll stand beside you through it all."  
  
"That's what Setzer said." she said morosely. "It doesn't help me much. I think I just need time. I need to..." She looked up at the sun again, her eyes glistening slightly. "I just need peace."  
  
He put his arm around her shoulders. " You'll get it, Terra. I promise. Right now, Sabin and the others are planning to overthrow this plot against you. I know that's not what you wanted, but it's what your getting. Setzer was right, and I know I'm right here too....your friends will watch out for you, no matter what."  
  
She stared at the sun, just over a sliver of it left, the small fraction of it seeming to hover waveringly over the ocean. "All right. But I don't want this....I don't want this magic anymore."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
She shivered, whether from fright or merely a chill Edgar didn't know. " Edgar....I just want to watch the sunset." she whispered. "Just once."  
  
He nodded, and they watched it silently, even long after it had gone.  
  
* * *  
  
He stood upon the roof of the tower, staring at the setting sun on the mountains. This was moving too fast, they had already discovered Material....and were making it by the bucket as well. In no time they would realize what was truly going on, and that simply would not be acceptable. He needed that girl separated from the group; he needed that damn king and his friends to leave her the hell alone. So far, things weren't going with what he needed, let alone what he wanted. He sighed and pulled the dark- colored wrappings off his head and neck, baring his short unruly brown hair to the wind that whistled past the immense tower. This body suited him much better, it was more lithe and athletic than his previous one. Silently he thanked the three Goddesses for saving his ass at the last minute, and transferring him to another. He always knew that his prayers would be answered.  
  
A soft shuffling noise was heard behind him, and the man turned his head, fixing his pale blue eyes on the green- and white-robed man genuflecting on the gravel of the rooftop. "Master....you wished to see me?"  
  
The man frowned. "Fool....you would dare look upon my face uninvited?"  
  
The man in the robe prostrated deeper, touching his head to the cold black gravel. "Forgive me, Master. It was an accident. I will bind my eyes in your presence from now on. No other shall know--"  
  
"Shut up, Caezin." the dark man muttered irritably. "I'll get right to the point. You've failed me in one sense, yet accomplished something in another sense. I believe because of that, your mistake does not need reprimanding."  
  
Caezin raised his face from the roof slightly, pieces of gravel stuck to his clammy forehead. "...Master?"  
  
The Master crossed his arms, and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Even though you didn't manage to obtain the Esper girl for me, you've opened up a doorway to her powers. I've seen them.....I saw them in my previous body, but since magic has been twisting beneath the world, her power has increased nearly tenfold. It is as if the new world that is forming from this " lifestream" has bonded itself with her, giving her strength." He smiled a malicious grin, one that didn't seem to fit the face of it's owner. "All Espers answer to the Goddesses." The Master looked down at his main disciple. "Do you follow me?"  
  
"I understand that fact, master....but the three Goddesses are dead....remember?"  
  
It came without warning. The brown-haired man's well-muscled arm shot out, a black blur as his silk-gloved fingers closed around Caezin's throat. Caezin quickly found himself dangling from his Master's grip around his neck, barely able to choke let alone breathe. The disciple clutched at the Master's wrist, but the viselike grip didn't yield.  
  
"Imbecile..." The Master hissed through teeth gritted in fury. "Don't you own a brain? The Goddesses are within ME, not dead and gone. That is why I am here....or perhaps you have forgotten what all of the cult must know?"  
  
All Caezin could manage were some wheezing sounds, his face turning purple. He struggled feebly for a moment, and then was flung onto the harsh gravel of the roof by a swift backhand toss by the black-clad man. He lay on the black gravel in a fetal position, clutching at his neck as he gasped for air like a fish. The Master looked down at him with disgust.  
  
"And to think, I was going to give you a gift for your efforts." He pulled his black silk hood over his face again, making his features a mystery once more. "You have new orders. Take a group of men and surround the island of Thamasa, and flush out the Esper girl. You can dispose of her friends if you can manage it....or even burn the town to the ground if you have to. I want her out, and alive. When she's out, capture her as best as you can. Order the others to do it....do not interfere yourself, other to convey my orders."  
  
"Master," Caezin's voice was hoarse. "How can we capture and Esper?"  
  
For a few minutes, The Master was silent as he stared at the mountains surrounding the immensely tall tower. The only sound was the chill wind whistling past. Finally, he spoke. "When the time comes, I'll take care of it. Leave me now, and do not fail again, Caezin. You may not live through it."  
  
The Master heard some scrabbling sounds behind him as Caezin hurried to his feet and rushed down the stairs. Then there was only the sound of the wind.  
  
* * *  
  
Mog twirled on his toes in delight. They had thought it was a good idea! Relm almost always thought things were a good idea, though. Ice cream for dinner? Good idea. A day at the beach? Another good idea. And of course, the whole "Mission: Terra" has he had labeled it was definitely a good idea in Relm's eyes. He continued to dance as the blonde-haired girl watched him, giggling.  
  
Gau rolled his eyes. "Great, now he'll never stop."  
  
"Oh, leave him alone....let him dance if he wants to." Relm giggled again. " Besides, he's so cute."  
  
Gau smoothed back his hair, an action that he picked up from Cyan. "I think we should find my father and the others. He probably has them all together at the Elder's House at this point."  
  
Mog stopped spinning, slightly dizzy. " Po...good idea. I bet that everybody's there, 'cept for Terra herself."  
  
Relm looked at the stars, which had just begun to come out in the post- sunset sky. "I hope she gets there soon, it's getting late, and we have planning to do." She looked at her companions. "Why don't we get going?"  
  
The moogle nodded with a squeak. "Good idea....maybe we can get some ideas cooked up before Terra even shows up."  
  
Gau showed his agreement by starting to walk in the direction of the Elder's house. Interceptor trotted after him, claws clicking on the white cobblestones. The dog didn't usually like men or boys, save his old owner....but for some reason he and Gau got along fairly well. Relm suspected it had something to do with Gau's ability to communicate with the animal. Maybe someday she could ask Gau how to talk to Interceptor. Having a conversation with an animal might be interesting.  
  
Locke was leaning against the doorway to the Elder's home, idly peeling an unfortunate blade of grass to ribbons. " Hey, there you are. Everybody else is inside, except for Terra and Edgar."  
  
"Do you think he found her?" Relm asked.  
  
The thief shrugged. "With Edgar...who knows? Maybe he did, maybe he's just watching her from a distance. Everybody knows how Terra affects him."  
  
The young artist put her hands on her hips. "Then again, didn't Terra used to affect you, Mr. Treasure Hunter?"  
  
He flashed a brilliant smile. "Nope. Always plutonic. Are you kids gonna go inside or do you plan on chitchatting all night?"  
  
Inside, the others were seated around the large oak table that was generally used for town meetings. Sabin and Cyan were discussing something quietly, and Celes gazed at a Material orb that she held lightly in her hand. All other eyes looked up as the three "children" and Locke entered.  
  
"Heya guys." Setzer said. "Nice of you to finally show up."  
  
"Be nice, Setzer." Celes chided, pulling her attention from the Material orb.  
  
"I am being nice." He said with a level expression.  
  
Cyan stood up. "I guess we can start, even though Edgar is not here. The whole issue at hand doth deal with Terra, Caezin, and some sort of a cult. Apparently the cult is after Terra....whether they see her as a potential threat, or perhaps as some sort of weapon...remains to be seen."  
  
"Kupo...weapon?" The moogle took a seat on a chair at the table, his beady little eyes peeking over the top of the table.  
  
"That's what me and Cyan have been talking about." Sabin said. "It makes sense....we all know that Terra is half-Esper, right? What happened to all the other Espers? Their magicite either disappeared, or they were sealed away to their own realm. That means that most likely Terra's the only Esper left."  
  
"An Esper with power, to boot." Strago added. "During that fight with Caezin she wasn't using Material to cast magic....she was casting it from her own body, the way we all used to cast magic. And the way that Espers cast magic as well."  
  
"It's true." a tired voice said from the doorway. The group at the table turned towards the door to see Terra standing there, with Edgar close behind her. Her face had reverted to the usual calm expression it normally held, but her eyes said otherwise. Her green eyes seemed tired, and a little sad. She made her way to the table, but didn't sit down. "I still don't like the idea of this....I don't want all of you to get involved in trouble because of me."  
  
Immediately a whole chorus of objections rose from the people seated around the table. Edgar raised his hands. "People! Listen! Hey, SHUT UP!!" The room fell silent. "She said that she doesn't like the idea....but she's going along with it. Tell them, Terra."  
  
"I know you've helped me in the past....and I still feel in debt because of that." She sat down in an empty chair. "But still....I know that if anything would happen to any of you, I would want to help. I wouldn't just turn the other way, no matter what you said. So I think it's only fair that we get rid of The Cult of Kefka together."  
  
The whole room started muttering things like "I thought we got rid of them?" and " Damn bastards....don't know when to quit." Terra shook her head. "I know, we thought that they died out with Kefka. Maybe they found a new leader....somebody pretending to be Kefka or something. But the point is, they're still out there."  
  
Celes looked baffled. "How do you know it's Kefka's Cult?"  
  
Edgar raised his hand. "I realized it. I knew that Caezin's uniform was familiar.....the green and white robes. But I remember finding Strago mixed in with the cult after were were separated by the apocalypse. He was wearing the same clothing, with other Cult members that were wearing the came clothes."  
  
Strago sighed. "That's right. Caezin somehow duped me into joining that cult. Don't know how he did it....but he was definitely a member. Apparently he still is."  
  
"So then we march up to that Tower of theirs, and eliminate 'em." Locke said. " Besides, I bet the tower's former owner wants it back."  
  
Relm stopped drawing a portrait of the group, and frowned. "Who's that?"  
  
"Prince Xain of Judoor. He built that tower right before the end of the world, and named it "Cosmo Tower". Then the cult disposed of him somehow and took over the tower."  
  
"He's dead?" the telepath asked.  
  
"I hope not." Locke replied. "He was a real nice guy.....helped me find out where the Phoenix Magicite was. Knowing Xain, he probably got away and is holed up somewhere."  
  
Strago looked at the Treasure Hunter. " So you're saying that Kefka's Tower is really named "Cosmo Tower"?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
The blue mage looked sly. "...and, he's the one who had the tower built, and lived there himself?"  
  
"Yep again. Where are you going with this, old man?"  
  
Strago rubbed his hands together and grinned. "It's just that I know that tower. It's hard to lay siege to it, and it's hard to climb it without being noticed."  
  
Locke fiddled with his bandanna. "Duh, I know....I was there."  
  
The blue mage sighed. "You miss the point, Locke. Every tower, castle and even house as a way to get in where you can't be noticed. If Xain is still around, maybe he knows a way we can get in. We go in, kill the new leader, and the cult disbands. Then after that, it'll be as simple as finding the old members and imprisoning them."  
  
"Doma shall offer her full assistance with this matter, then." Cyan said.  
  
"Figaro too." Edgar added.  
  
Terra looked around at her friends. " Well, it sounds good to me. Maybe this is the right way to go....and in the end, we get rid of a cult that could hurt others, and this Xain person gets his tower back. We probably should--"  
  
Her sentence was cut short by a flare of red light that shone through the windows, and then a crackling sound. The group quickly rushed outside, nearly stumbling over each other in their haste. Outside, groups of men in green and black robes flew about on chocobos as black as night, raising their hands up as they called forth fire spells. Rows of homes were on fire, as well as the trees near them. Citizens ran about the streets in panic, some trying to fight back against the cult members, some trying to put out the flames. None of them were doing a very good job.  
  
"Oh no..." Terra moaned. "I didn't think they'd slip this low...."  
  
Celes immediately whipped out her ice Material, and started casting ice spells on the burning houses. The flames slackened a bit, but didn't exactly go out. She grunted in frustration, and then tried again. After a moment she was hit by a high-level bolt spell, and completely floored. Locke ran to her side as the others drew their weapons.  
  
One of the black chocobos landed in front of the group, the rider wearing the same robes as the others. However, there was a certain cockiness in the way he sat in the saddle, and in the eyes hidden behind the mask. "I'm back." Caezin said almost calmly. "And this time I'll make it simple: I want that Esper witch."  
  
Terra stared at Caezin, and froze in her tracks. She honestly didn't know what to do.  
  
"Let me rephrase that." Caezin said. "I want her NOW." 


	7. Searching for Hope

CHAPTER SIX  
  
Searching for Hope  
  
Caezin continued to sit in an overly confident manner in the saddle of his midnight-colored chocobo, the smug expression on his face easily detected through the veil he wore. The other riders of the Cult continued their onslaught, burning houses and townspeople alike, and the screams and cries of dispair wafted over to Terra, who stood towards the front of the group indecisively.  
  
"What, didn't you hear me?" Caezin said. " Do you need even MORE goading?"  
  
"I heard you." Terra's voice was low, almost dangerous. It was a tone that she rarely used.  
  
"Then be a good girl and come here. Don't make me burn anybody or anything else."  
  
Terra frowned, and opened her mouth to speak, when a needlelike dirk sailed past her head and head-on towards Caezin. She heard Locke say "Go to hell!" as the dagger flew towards the green-robed man before them. The chocobo nimbly dodged to the side, and the dirk sailed past to embed itself in an completely innocent burning house. Caezin looked at the dagger, and then back at the thief.  
  
"Stupid. Very stupid." the mage raised his hand and pointed at his assailant. " Shadow Flare."  
  
Locke blinked, confused, and then clutched at his sides as the air around him grew white-hot. His muffled cry was heard as darkness formed around him, and then exploded. When the magic cleared, he lay on the ground next to the already-floored Celes, gritting his teeth in pain.  
  
Sabin yelled, and shot an Aurabolt at Caezin. The Cult member swatted the mystic energy away as if it was a fly, sending it flying back towards Sabin. The prince ducked just in time, but Mog, who was standing behind him, was hit by the energy full-force in the face. With a squealing scream, the moogle flew back into the side of the Elder's house.  
  
Interceptor snarled, lunging at Caezin, but was disposed just as easily with another "Shadow Flare" spell. Caezin cast Fire3 on the entire group, rendering Celes, Mog and Locke near-unconscious, and the rest of them fairly weak, save for Terra, who for some reason absorbed the spell. The half-breed looked around at her friends, shaking her head. She couldn't let them get hurt anymore. This was insane....it had to stop. It had to stop by any means possible.  
  
"Stop it! Stop it right now!" She stepped forward. "They have nothing to do with this! My friends....the people of this town...make it stop! Don't hurt them!"  
  
Caezin removed his veil and gave Terra an almost shrewd expression, as if he was haggling over some wares instead of people's lives. "In that case, will you come with me?"  
  
Terra's head dropped, her shoulders slumping forward in defeat. "...yes."  
  
Edgar pulled himself up to his feet. " Terra, no!"  
  
She raised her head to face him, ignoring Edgar. "Anything to make you stop this. But...I have a condition...."  
  
The mage's expression was smug. "I don't think you're on any terms to make demands, my dear,"  
  
Her voice was low and menacing again. "I could tear you apart, Caezin....but I won't. I'll ask for something instead....I want you to leave my friends alone. Don't hurt them anymore....and don't hurt Thamasa anymore."  
  
Caezin gave a shrill whistle, and the assault on the town stopped, the ranks of mounted Cult members forming up into neat lines behind their leader. "Done. Now..." He extended a hand towards her.  
  
Edgar shook his head. "Terra....please don't do this....there has to be another way."  
  
Terra took a tentative step towards Caezin, then turned to her friends. " Don't worry about me. It's the best I can do for you..." Her eyes softened as they fixed on the King of Figaro. "Take care of yourself, Edgar....and take care of my kids." She then turned to Caezin, who helped her sit in front of him on the saddle. She showed a momentary bit of disgust when Caezin wrapped his arms around her waist, but quickly pushed it back. Caezin shook the reins, and the Cult members took off to the sky, leaving the group standing there in disbelief.  
  
Edgar hung his head in silence, but his brother shared his and everyone else's sentiments at the moment, and his reaction expressed it perfectly.  
  
"...Goddamn them..." he said as he pounded a fist against the side of the Elder's house.  
  
* * *  
  
Terra watched as the ocean whizzed by below them, loathing herself more and more with each passing mile. There had to be another way....Edgar had said that. But she couldn't think of another way. She just wanted her friends...the people she loved, to be safe. The Esper inwardly cursed at herself for being so weak so.....  
  
...so human? Was that it? Was she truly human? She had finally started to feel human emotions....no, to remember them. Slowly but surely, the memories prior to the Slave Crown incident returned to her, although they were fuzzy....a mixture of jumbled images and confusing words.  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by a hand that inched higher up her torso. She pushed it down. Caezin was getting more and more familiar with her on this trip to....to wherever, and she was doing her best to not let him succeed. The very thought of the old mage's wrinkled hands on her made her sick, and the thought of him putting them in places he shouldn't made her furious. She swallowed down her fury, and continued to sit obediently in the saddle.  
  
"So where are we going?" She managed to ask.  
  
"You don't necessarily have the right to ask questions." Caezin's voice said near her ear.  
  
"I went along as you asked, and I'm behaving. Can't I at least know where I'm headed?"  
  
Caezin sighed. "Fine...if you're going to be that way about it. We're headed to the Cult's Tower."  
  
"I should of figured that." Terra frowned, trying to think of a way out of the situation. She had threatened to tear Caezin apart, saying that she held more power than he did. The truth was, she was just bluffing to buy time, in hopes that somebody would of thought of something. Nobody did, so here she was, weak from fighting off a meteor spell earlier, on her way to...what? She saw what happened to the Espers...and her father. Was that going to happen to her? She didn't even know, or want to know.  
  
The chocobo circled down towards the ominous-looking tower that stood out against the stark desert it stood upon. Wherever she was headed, and whatever was going to happen to her would be made clear to her soon enough.  
  
* * *  
  
"Stop babying me."  
  
Celes checked Locke over again, casting perhaps more cure spells than were needed. "I just want to make sure you're okay..." She put a hand to his forehead.  
  
"I'm fine." the thief snapped irritably. " Shouldn't you make sure the others are all right?"  
  
The ex-general's blue eyes seemed to pale to a gray-blue. Locke knew that warning sign: she was either about to cry or about to kill something. "I'm only trying to help you..."  
  
He sighed, sitting up to fold her in his arms. "I'm sorry if I'm a little punchy....I didn't mean to yell. It's just that the thing we didn't want to happen just happened, and I feel helpless."  
  
Celes nodded wordlessly, obviously just as upset as he was. Across the room, there was another thud as Setzer punched the wall in frustration. The pale gambler seemed to be taking the abduction of Terra very personally, and now that he was healed, he had become almost violent.  
  
Celes raised her face from Locke's chest and turned towards her tall, pale friend. "Setzer...please stop it."  
  
Setzer slammed the wall with his fist again, making all the windows in the room vibrate. "I can't...I feel so...so...just as Locke put it! Helpless!" He raised his fist for another blow, then dropped it, panting. " It just isn't fair....luck always used to smile upon me. Always. But in the last few years...." He dropped down into a chair, pushing his silver hair out of his face with his right hand. Celes could clearly see that the skin on his knuckles was torn from him punching the brick wall. "You guys don't know what this does to me." His voice took on a solemn tone, not unlike the one he used when speaking about Daryl.  
  
Celes stood and went to kneel near him. " We all feel the same, Setzer...all of us. Terra's what brought us all together....Terra's a very dear friend to all of us. I understand."  
  
Setzer brought his bleeding hand down on his thigh almost vehemently. "No! You don't understand! It's because..." He stopped, looking at Celes with his gray eyes. "...it's because Terra's more than a friend to me." The gambler shook his head. "I tried to keep the whole thing plutonic....to not persue it. But I can't ignore it. I know how I feel about her, and I can't stop denying it....not ever, not at a time like this."  
  
Locke gave a low whistle. "And I thought Edgar had it bad....why didn't you tell any of us?"  
  
The gambler sighed. "I didn't want to be so damn obvious. Sure...everybody knew about Edgar, how damn smitten he was with her...but I didn't want to seem like a love-struck buffoon like him. So I kept silent, I kept it to myself. I didn't even tell Terra...although I really wish I did. For some reason, I think that if she knew that somebody really..." he nearly choked on the word. " ...loved her, she would of stayed with us. She wouldn't of left."  
  
The treasure hunter shook his head. " You've got it all wrong, Setz. Terra left because she knew that she was loved. And she loved us back...all of us. We're like family at this point....and that's how Terra sees us. We're the only warmth she's ever gotten, aside from those children in Moblitz. She left so the people she loved...so that we wouldn't get hurt."  
  
"Don't blame yourself, Setzer." Celes said softly. "Nobody prompted her decision....it was Terra's to decide, and nobody could of wavered it."  
  
"What about Edgar?" Setzer strained through gritted teeth. "I heard her...of all of us that were there, she turned to him and said 'take care of yourself, Edgar'. I heard her! You're saying that nobody could of changed her mind....what about good ol' Eddy? Huh? It's obvious who she holds in the highest regard...if anybody could of said anything or did anything....why the hell didn't he? Why did he just respond with a 'Terra, no'?!"  
  
Locke stood up angrily and strode over to the gambler. "Don't you even blame Edgar...or anybody else. How do you think Edgar feels?" Setzer stared up at the sandy-haired man stupidly as the thief waggled an angry finger in his face. "He feels just the same as you! At least he said SOMETHING. He tried his best, just as we were all trying to get to our feet. And what about me? I tried too!" Locke grunted as Setzer turned away. "Look at me you asshole....this is NOT just about you and Terra, this is about ALL OF US. We all feel damn terrible, and we all want to do something! So suck it up and come back to reality!"  
  
Setzer stood up angrily, towering over the thief, who was a good five inches shorter than he was. "You're not helping thief....why don't you just shut the hell up and get out of my face?"  
  
It came without warning. At one moment, Locke's arms lay at his sides; the next, his right fist came up swiftly to clip Setzer harshly against his jaw. The gambler, who was not prepared for the blow, staggered back and fell into the chair behind him, just as Celes stood up, crying out Locke's name in shock. The treasure hunter glared down at Setzer, brown eyes burning, and opened his mouth as if to say something but was cut short by Celes.  
  
"Knock it off! What's wrong with you, Locke?"  
  
Locke continued to glare down at Setzer, who was massaging his jaw while locking the gaze of the man standing in front of him. The thief stood there for a few more uneasy seconds, and then strode out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Celes looked at Setzer. "Are you all right?"  
  
He nodded. "He's damn strong for a little shit. I'll be fine...just surprised me, that's all."  
  
She sighed. "I'm sorry about this.....I'd better go talk to him."  
  
Setzer sat up, waggling his jaw like a cow chewing cud. "Yeah, you'd better...before he pops somebody else."  
  
Celes rushed out of the room into the main room of the Elder's house, but didn't see Locke anywhere. Mog was seated near the doorway.  
  
She looked at him. "Where...?"  
  
"Outside." the moogle said before she could finish her sentence. "And did he look mad."  
  
Celes brushed past Mog, and nearly walked past Locke, who sat against the side of the house, holding his head in his hands. He didn't move when she sat down next to him, but made a faint grunting sound. She slipped an arm around his shoulders. "Locke..."  
  
"Look, you don't have to say anything. I know I was an ass, I know I shouldn't of hit him or blew up like that, it's just..." He raised his face, which held an expression of anger, frustration and sadness all rolled into one. "The whole situation upsets me....really upsets me." He closed his eyes and sighed. Absently Celes noted how long his eyelashes were....something that made him seem even more beautiful to her. " I've known Terra longer and better than anybody else. I was the one who came to her in those mines...I was the one who always supported her during the Kefka thing. And it wasn't because I was doing it for her sake....I was doing it, because I said I would." He opened his chocolate brown eyes partway, his gaze distant. "I promised her that I would always protect her. That I would never let anything happen to her."  
  
"You said that to me too."  
  
"I know. I said that to you because I love you, Celes. But I love Terra too....not the way Setzer or Edgar do, but more like she's family. Like she's a part of who I am. She filled that gap that I held inside me....made me feel like I had some hope in this world. Made me feel like I had something to actually live for, if ever slightly." He turned his head to face her. "Banon said that Terra was a ray of hope. He was right...she was; she was the hope in me."  
  
Celes nodded, knowing that she should feel jealous, but for some reason she didn't. "It's okay."  
  
"Is it?" He rested his head against the wall behind him and swallowed, his adam's apple bobbing. "I don't care if I sound selfish, or seem like an idiot. I miss her, and I want to do anything to get her back with us, where she belongs." Locke sighed, his voice taking on a mournful tone. "Is that so wrong?"  
  
She shook her head. "No. No, it's not." There was nothing else to say, so she rested her head against his shoulder, and sat with him until his melancholy passed.  
  
* * *  
  
The tower was almost exactly as she had remembered it: tier upon tier upon tier of endless stairways, all spiraling up to the unknown. Doorways were on many of the floors; some did not have doors, some merely housed landings for the seemingly endless stairway. Terra panted as she was forced up the blue-black stairs, ignoring the fact that Caezin harshly held her wrist in a surprisingly strong grip. She had thought him a weak old man, but for some reason this ascent up the staircase seemed to barely phase him. It definitely phased her, though. Being half-Esper, she was blessed with a high stamina and strength, especially for a woman. However, that strength and stamina were sapping away with each step.  
  
She stumbled, nearly pulling Caezin down with her. He harshly pulled her up with a disproving expression.  
  
"Can I ask something?" she panted.  
  
"I suppose." he conceded.  
  
"If everybody was riding black chocobos that can fly, why didn't you just fly them to the top of the staircase? It would of saved time and effort." She didn't want to openly admit that she was exhausted, although that was probably already evident to the old mage.  
  
Caezin continued without slowing. "The Master doesn't allow just anybody to go to his area, and that includes chocobos. He would probably flay me if I brought some smelly birds into his presence. So, we walk."  
  
Terra sighed ruefully. "This isn't fair."  
  
"In your case, nothing is fair. That was the general idea."  
  
She ignored that. "I'm half-Esper, and probably one of the strongest women alive. Why is it that you, a man who has to be around seventy, can outwalk a twenty-year-old half-esper on a stairway?"  
  
"My Master rewards me for his service. I asked for youth in return for my services, so he's going to give me it a little bit at a time. He's already given me the strength and stamina of a young man." He leered at her. "Probably even more than your little blond boy-toy."  
  
The half-breed growled, an almost animalistic sound. "Don't you ever speak of my friends like that."  
  
Caezin continued to drag her along, smiling in a naughty way. "Oh, you mean that king isn't your sexual slave? Too bad for you....he looks like he would of been willing to boff you any day."  
  
Terra ignored her situation, and kicked him in the back of his knee with an angry shriek. He went down, pulling her down with him, causing both of them to fall back down several stairs onto the previous landing. Terra rolled a bit more, and nearly fell off the landing. She clutched at the railing and peered at the far dropoff below, the gray-stoned ground some forty stories down. The Esper backed up until she came to a wall, and sighed in relief.  
  
Suddenly, the air around her became very hot, and a blinding white light surrounded her. Darkness seemed to draw to the hot air around her, like a magnet. Waves of pain ripped through her body as flashes of brilliant white and pitch black marred her vision. There was a loud popping sound, and she fell to the ground, writhing her legs in pain as she clutched at her sides. The remaining traces of the Shadow Flare spell dissipated, and she heard Caezin step up to her.  
  
"Don't try that again, bitch." he said almost shrilly. "I don't think you can stand another one."  
  
Terra gritted her teeth, and slowly stood up. She absolutely hated this man, and everything he stood for...and she made no effort to conceal that fact from her face.  
  
Caezin just looked at her. "You can hate me all you want, bitch, but you can't do much. I know how weak you are at this point, so I doubt you can do much, other than kick me again. If you come along and behave, you'll be treated better. If you don't behave...well, this will be absolute hell for you, my dear."  
  
She stared at him with her grass-green eyes, and narrowed them to angry slits. " I don't care how long it takes me, or how I do it....but I just want you to know that someday, I'll make sure you get the rewards for a fool with no morals." She then brushed past him, and obediently started climbing the staircase again.  
  
* * *  
  
Edgar shook his head as somebody knocked at the door again. He didn't want to be bothered at all tonight, not after Terra was taken away. It was his fault. He could of done something, he could of spared her somehow. But he didn't. Only desperate words came to him, words from a panicky idiot that didn't know what to do in a critical situation. He was a king, he was supposed to be able to handle critical situations! And yet, his mind and all his years of experience failed him when the person that changed his life was taken away.  
  
The nagging knocking continued, and Edgar rubbed at his face. "...you're bloody persistent. Is it that important? I said I didn't want to see anybody."  
  
Somebody jiggled the door handle, and a snuffling sound was heard near the foot of the door. A muffled "Interceptor, sit" was heard. The voice was familiar.  
  
Edgar sighed, rose, and unlatched the door to let Relm in. "Of all people, I didn't expect to see you come over to me."  
  
Relm looked at Edgar's ravaged face critically. "Were you crying?"  
  
"No, and that's none of your business. Did you want something?"  
  
"Yes, just to talk to you." She sat down in a chair near the oak table at the far end of the room. Everybody knew that Edgar had locked himself in his room at the Inn, but nobody could manage to get to him. Relm figured that maybe if Edgar talked to a kid instead of an adult, he might listen to reason.  
  
Edgar sat on the edge of the bed wearily. "Fine. Talk away."  
  
The young artist took her hat off, and let her hair down. "I think you're being childish."  
  
"That's pretty good, coming from a child."  
  
"If that's what you think, doesn't that mean anything to you? A kid telling you that you're acting immature?"  
  
"Immature?" With his Figaronian accent, he pronounced the word "imma-tour".  
  
"Yeah. The rest of us have been thinking of something to do all night....planning ever since we recovered from the Cult's attack, and all YOU did was sit in here and pout for..." She glanced at the clock on the wall, which indicated that it was now quarter after eleven. "...almost four hours now?"  
  
"I am not pouting." he said stubbornly as he stood up again.  
  
She stood up. "Oh, sorry....you were simpering. My mistake."  
  
Edgar's blue eyes flashed like ice. "I think you should leave, Relm."  
  
"No, I don't think I should. I think I should try to explain what us intelligent people are doing, in hopes that we can save our friend that we ALL love and that we ALL miss." She crossed the room to him. "You're not the only one who's hit hard by this, so don't act like you are!"  
  
Edgar looked down at the girl, not knowing what to say. He slowly sank back down to sit on the bed, and rubbed at his face, groaning. "I'm sorry....you're right. I'm being an ass right now, but I don't know what else to do. I feel like this whole thing wouldn't of happened if I had only thought of something." He sat there silently, his hands concealing his face from his guest.  
  
When Relm spoke again, her tone was soft. "It wasn't your fault, Edgar. I feel bad too, you know....I feel like it was my fault, that maybe I could of controlled Caezin's mind, or maybe magically sketched that chocobo platoon....but I didn't. I just sat there like the rest of us, because things were happening so fast. I know how you feel helpless, but you're not." She sat down next to him, and pulled his hands away from his face to look him in the eye. "We all have to work together on this, all right? We can get her back...we've done it before."  
  
Edgar nodded slowly. For some reason the girl's stare broke through the layer of stubborn self-loathing he had sheathed himself in, and made his thoughts clear again. "All right, Relm. I think I'm ready to help, now that I'm done.....simpering, was it?" He managed a small smile.  
  
"Good, keep smiling....maybe you'll cheer up a little bit."  
  
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. " Thank you for helping a hard-headed monarch see the light, my lady."  
  
Relm giggled. "No problem. Can I tell all my friends that a handsome king kissed me?"  
  
His small smile broadened into a grin. " Only if you tell me that we have a plan."  
  
She stood, and gracefully curtsied to him. "Your Majesty, we do in fact, have a plan." The telepath smiled, dimples popping up on her cheeks. "And I play a big role in it too." 


	8. A Man With A Plan

CHAPTER SEVEN  
  
A Man With A Plan  
  
When Edgar, Relm and Interceptor entered the Elder's house, the usual familiar faces were gathered around the living room, all discussing things noisily. A large dish of glowing material sat on the coffee table, casting an eerie green sheen to everything despite the lamplight. The Cult's attack had put the power out throughout the entire town. A few citizens died, and a few houses were severely burned, but that was of no moment to the group. Thamasa could handle itself; Terra couldn't.  
  
Relm sat down next to her grandfather, and looked up at Edgar. "Why don't you have a seat? You'll like this plan."  
  
The babble in the room died down as Setzer stood to speak. "We thought long and hard about this...that is, after we all spent time feeling sorry for ourselves. Some, more than others." He didn't even glance at Edgar on that phrase, his tone clearly dictated to whom he was referring. "However, after we were done pouting, some of us started to get the gears in our heads turning, and formulated a good plan." He looked at Relm. "Our little telepathic artist friend assured me that she can communicate with Terra telepathically, because of her Esper heritage. All Espers are telepaths, so odds are Terra is too, unknowingly."  
  
The artist nodded. "I think that if I can 'tap-in' to Terra's mind, I can figure out where exactly she's being held."  
  
"The Cult of Kefka's Tower." Sabin said with a shrug. "Everybody knows that."  
  
"It's a big tower, Sabin." Locke said from the chair he idly lounged in. " That's why I suggested that we find the man who knows that tower in and out....that is, we follow our initial plan." He adjusted the knot on his blue-and-white bandanna. "We find Prince Xain of Jidoor, trek up to the Tower, and storm it. We wipe out this nasty Cult problem, and get Terra back in the process. As simple as that."  
  
"It sounds simple, but we all know it won't be." Edgar said dubiously.  
  
Setzer grinned a wolflike grin. "And that's where you come in, my boy."  
  
Edgar blinked. "Me?"  
  
Setzer sat back down, and leaned back easily in his chair. "Yep, the King of Figaro is going to be the lead of 'Operation Terra'."  
  
The blond king shook his head. " I...don't know if I'm okay with this..."  
  
"Well, it's like this," The pale gambler started to idly toy with a die. "We have two groups. The one group will find Xain, go with him, and go into the tower and wipe out that cult. Celes will lead that one, since she's shown magnificent leadership before."  
  
Celes batted her eyelashes. "Oh, stop...I'll blush."  
  
Setzer fixed his gray eyes on the King of Figaro. "And you, the pride of the Figaronian Empire, the master of machinery, and the most persistent bastard in the lot of us will lead the group in to get Terra back, and get rid of Caezin."  
  
Edgar looked around the room and found the face of his brother. "You're not even going to back me up, Sabin?"  
  
Sabin shrugged. "Actually, I suggested that you head the group that saves Terra, since I figure you two will probably be overly happy to see each other."  
  
The king's face assumed a flat expression. "Thank you, brother." He sighed, and drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. "All right, fine. I'm in....but if I'm leading this parade, I decide who marches with who." Edgar scanned the room with his blue eyes, making quick decisions. He was wrong to think that he couldn't handle the situation....he knew he was made for situations like this, and so did his brother. As he picked his companions, he wondered why Sabin didn't suggest he go get Terra himself earlier.  
  
"All right." Edgar said. "Sabin, Gau, Relm, Setzer and Interceptor come with me. Locke, Strago, Mog, Cyan and this Xain fellow go with Celes." He looked about the room at his friends. "Any objections?"  
  
Strago raised a thin hand. "Actually, yes...I might need Relm's ability with magic and telepathy when fighting the cult."  
  
Edgar thoughtfully ran his tongue over his teeth, and nodded. "Fine then...she pinpoints where Terra is, and then she goes with your group."  
  
"It's always nice to be wanted." Relm giggled.  
  
The king of Figaro fixed his eyes on the large heap of material that sat with a cold glow on the coffee table in the center of the room. "And what about this stuff? It seems we have more than we did before."  
  
"That's because we were working on it." Celes said. "Sabin, Gau and I went out and made more material."  
  
Edgar frowned. "We only had so much lifestream. Where did you get more?"  
  
Celes smiled a bit slyly. " Well....Rickart didn't exactly obey your orders. He packed up and left...but he went straight to the Veldt to get some more lifestream. He came back right after all the fires were put out, and after you decided to go off and pout. We made at least thirty orbs tonight, with a good variety of spells.  
  
"Which ones?" the blond king asked.  
  
Celes ticked them off on her fingers as she ran across the list. "Well, we have Fire, Bolt, Ice, Quake, Cure, Sleep, Bio, Haste and Ultima. Some spells, like Vanish, Pearl and Merton just wouldn't work. Things changed though....Ultima isn't as effective as it was. Instead of an expanding ball of blue energy, it's a green mist that's nearly as destructive, but not exactly. I only made one of those, because creating the one made me tired. I also changed the name of Remedy to "Esuna" ....since it was the name of the spell I learned when becoming a knight. And not only that, but we can't cast "Sleep" exactly..."  
  
Edgar frowned. "Why not?"  
  
Sabin coughed apologetically. "Uh, that would be my bad. I made a Sleep material, but instead of saying "Sleep", I accidentally mumbled my words and said. "Sleepel"."  
  
His brother actually laughed. "Sleepel? That's interesting. So we'll just say " Sleepel" when casting the spell. All right, so we have all this material....is there enough to go around?"  
  
Celes nodded. "I figure that everybody can have at least three material orbs. I think the extra ones should go to me, Strago, Relm and Gau, since we were always the most proficient with magic."  
  
"There's a problem, though." Edgar said a bit ruefully. "Material only seems to work when you're holding it...or at least physically touching it. Are we supposed to whip it out of our pockets when we need it?"  
  
"Brother, don't worry...it's been taken care of." Sabin extended an arm, and indicated a strange metal bracelet that had several round holes in it. "Rickart also had your lab boys come up with these things....they're steel armlets made specifically to hold material." He tapped the bracelet around his wrist. " Material is sort of magnetic, so when you put a material orb in one of these slots, it doesn't fall out. Not only that, but material's energy is conducted by metal, just like electricity is. By putting the material orbs in these bracelets, and having the metal in contact with your skin, you can use the magic without having to hold an orb in your hand."  
  
"Does it work?" His brother asked.  
  
"I tried it, so did Celes. It works really well."  
  
He nodded. "Good. That detail is settled, so let's move along. So tell us," the blond king went on, facing the Locke. "where do we find this friend of yours, Locke?"  
  
The thief sat up straight in his chair, removing his leg he had cocked over the one chair arm. "Remember that art nut, Owezer?"  
  
Setzer laughed. "Oh that tank ass..."  
  
Relm stamped her foot. "He's not a tank ass....he's a very nice, very intelligent man."  
  
"Whatever." Locke went on. "He's actually the Duke of Jidoor. He rules in Xain's place."  
  
Edgar frowned. He had never approved of Dukedoms. "So you're saying that since he does Xain's job for him, he probably would know where Xain ran off to?"  
  
The thief gave a sly smile. "He'd better know, he's Xain's uncle...and Xain always made sure to keep in contact with his relatives, if only to know how well his little rich man empire is running."  
  
* * *  
  
They reached the top of the tower after what seemed to be ages. Terra fell to her hands and knees, panting. Even Caezin seemed a little winded, although he didn't show it very much. He stood next to Terra and patiently waited until she caught her breath.  
  
"Not that I feel sorry for you, but I want you in good condition when you meet my Master." he explained.  
  
Terra slowly stood, brushing black gravel from her knees. "I'm probably not permitted to know who your master is, am I?"  
  
"Not exactly, no. However, if you're lucky, you'll be able to see his face. Seeing The Master's face is considered a privilege, and an honor."  
  
Terra decided not to comment on that one, but instead fixed her eyes on the wooden temple that stood on the rooftop, a little to the left. It seemed a little more ornate than the last time she had seen it; there were strange sigils and the faces of what appeared to be spirits or maybe even deities, all carved into the wood of the temple itself. Faint candlelight inside made the rice-paper windows glow slightly, but that was the only light on the rooftop, save the moon. Her cold glow illuminated the walls of the structure, but kept the terrace-like structure in shadow. Terra, however, easily sensed a man within that pool of shadows.  
  
Caezin went to the foot of that terrace, and kneeled down on the harsh gravel, nearly pressing his forehead to the cold stones. "Master, I have the Esper witch, as you wish."  
  
"Good job, Caezin. Keep this up, and you'll be a young man within a month." His voice was quiet, and somewhat cold, and yet...  
  
...it was familiar. Terra stood up slowly, taking what energy she had left to focus her attention on Caezin's master. He continued to stand in the sanctuary of darkness provided by the terrace's roof, yet Terra could clearly see his lithe outline with her sharp eyes. He wasn't a massive man, but he was somewhat tall, and stood with his arms crossed lightly. Even the way he stood was familiar, although it was on a different man. A man that was dead, or so she thought...and hoped. "Who...?" she ventured.  
  
The man took a few steps forward. "I didn't give you permission to ask me questions, Esper. Keep quiet, or you won't live much longer."  
  
Terra sighed. "I think that it's only fair that you let me speak occasionally. I came willingly, you know....Caezin didn't get me to come here out of any wonder from the Goddesses."  
  
Caezin raised his face. "Well, I DID use Thamasa, and her little friends as a bargaining chip, Master. I thought it was a fair exchange, don't you?"  
  
The Master's shoulders shook in mute humor. "Too bad, though...since I won't uphold my part of the bargain."  
  
Terra looked up at the man concealed in shadow. "You can't do that! Caezin gave me his word!"  
  
Caezin stood and laughed, a particularly ugly sound. "I said that I wouldn't harm Thamasa, or your friends. I never said that my Master wouldn't."  
  
Terra took a threatening step towards Caezin, her green eyes ablaze. "You dirty bastard! I should--!" She was cut short as the man in the shadows raised his hand slightly, palm towards her. Green waves of energy shot out from around his feet, and suddenly her body froze up completely, her joints locking. Terra stood there helplessly as the Stop spell held her prisoner.  
  
"Please, behave yourself." The Master said. "I can't stand guests who can't mind their manners." He took a few steps down from the terrace, to stand next to Caezin on the gravel, his soft-shod feet making no sound. Terra managed to make a startled sound as she saw her captor's face. She had never seen the entirety of it....just usually the face around the eyes and nose. But it was familiar, as was the rest of the body of its owner. He was still slim yet muscular, he was still light on his feet, and he still wrapped himself in skin-tight silk as dark as night.  
  
Shadow smiled at her, a smile that held no warmth or emotion, one that held dark thoughts behind it instead. " Caezin, tell my technicians to put the finishing touches on the room, and be sure to have them check that the equipment is working. Our Esper guest will be staying a while, and it would only be fair that we accommodate her." He snapped his fingers, and Terra heard footsteps come up behind her. She struggled to even focus her mind for magic, but couldn't do anything but stand there helplessly. The half- breed felt a sharp jab, like a needle in her arm, and then a sudden woozy sensation.  
  
Then the world went black, with Shadow's orders to his men drifting to her with her last few moments of consciousness.  
  
* * *  
  
Setzer frowned as he looked around Jidoor. "I hate this place."  
  
"Why?" asked Mog, as he gripped his Pearl Lance. The weapon seemed comically large when the white-furred creature held it, but the way he held it indicated that it was not only a large weapon in his hands, but a deadly one as well. "I thought you liked all that glitz and glamour stuff."  
  
The gambler sighed. "It's one thing to make your way up, and earn your wealth. It's another thing to get there by riding on other people's backs. That's all Jidoor is...it's a town full of yuppies that get by only because they constantly look down their noses at Zozo and other towns. They're so overstuffed, they can't even see their own feet." He grunted. "Besides, this is my home town. I hate it like a bitch."  
  
"I always thought you'd be from Zozo, Setz." Locke said as they walked up the marble stairway that lead up to Owezer's manor....otherwise known as the "palace" of the town. It was large enough to be a palace. Then again, most of the buildings in Jidoor were. "You seem more like a "rough cutthroat" sort of guy to me."  
  
"Don't judge a book by it's cover." Setzer looked down the staircase and waited as Relm caught up. The rest of the group remained on the Falcon, still planning the intricate details of rescuing Terra. The tall gambler wanted to ditch this whole Xain idea and rush to that tower just as much as anybody did, even Edgar....but Locke had raised a point: how else would they sneak in? They didn't have powerful magic at their side like they did the first time they stormed the place. Stealth would be the key here....move swiftly and move quietly.  
  
Relm reached the top of the staircase, and continued towards the door. "It'll be good to see Owezer again. I have a picture for him, too."  
  
"Kupo....so you're just gonna waltz in?" The moogle shook his head. "Doesn't he still have weird monsters as guard animals in there?"  
  
She frowned down at Mog. "You're a weird monster too. Aren't moogles supposed to have some weird powers to keep their enemies away?"  
  
Mog blinked his beady blue-black eyes. " Oh yeah...I forgot about my keep- away doodad thingity."  
  
Setzer sighed and rubbed at his scarred face with a hand. "You mean your Moogle Charm, idiot." If it wasn't for the fact that Mog could keep all the monsters and the like away from them, Setzer would of insisted the little beast remain on the falcon. Either that, or send the cat-eared rat back to Narshe.  
  
Mog puffed up his fur angrily, flapping his wings to fly up to Gabianni eye- level. "Don't call me an idiot, po! I'll have you know that I'm darn smart for a moogle my age!"  
  
Locke took the creature out of the air and firmly set him down on the stoop before the massive white-and-gold door. " That's nice. Can we go inside now?"  
  
Relm attempted to open the door, but it was locked. Locke eradicated that problem in approximately three seconds, and then they were all inside. As it was before, the main hall of the mansion was nothing more than an expansive art gallery. Mog reached up to flick on the lights, and then looked around.  
  
"Po..." He said. "Looks like that guy's gotten more artwork since the last time we were here."  
  
"Of course." Relm said in an offhand way, as they ascended the staircase to the main art gallery. "He loves art, it only makes sense that he'd collect it constantly. I don't know how he gets the money, though..."  
  
"Taxes." Locke said as they walked towards a particular painting, one of a doorway. It was a simple picture, of a door in what appeared to a kitchen from medieval times. On the other side of the door, was what appeared to be rolling hills, but the artist didn't seem too concerned with putting too much detailing in the background. He seemed more intent with the door.  
  
Relm looked at the painting, and sniffed. "Grazou. I never liked his stuff...mainly because he was an egotist...and then later in life, he was an insane egotist. She pressed the small panel underneath the painting, and the wall below it slid away, revealing a staircase up. At the same time, the painting slid into a hidden compartment behind the wall, revealing a real door. The young artist took a few steps up to it, and opened it easily. "It's not locked..."  
  
Locke grinned. "If you had a secret door, would you take the time to lock it?" He and his other two companions followed Relm into the dimly-lit hallway. "Uh...Relm? Do you remember the right way there?"  
  
"I think so." She said. "If not, we can always mill around in here for a few days."  
  
Nobody said anything on that subject, although they did all think about it. The way to Owezer's living areas was a hell, since it was a maze of doorways, twisted halls, and dead ends. The whole thing looked like something from an Etscher drawing, which is probably where Owezer got the idea from.  
  
Relm lead them almost confidently through the bizarre passageways, apparently sure where to go. Sometimes she would stop before several doorways, and then seem to pick one at random. Whether it was luck or maybe that she really knew her way though the maze, they made their way along without running into dead ends, or without going in circles. Eventually, they reached a large doorway to what appeared to be a study. A large mahogany and silk chase lounge chair sat before a roaring hearth, a hearth that had a familiar picture of the beautiful Esper Starlet hung above it-- the picture painted by none other but Relm herself. Various other fine works of art, both sculpted and painted, lay scattered about the room, as if the owner of them didn't know what to do with them all. The owner of all these art pieces sat in the mahogany and silk chair, reading one of the many leather-bound books that the study contained. Owezer was still dressed in rich silks, still pale as a ghost, and still grossly fat. His hair was perhaps a bit more gray, but that was the only real indication of his age, his weight making it otherwise a mystery. The fat man raised his eyes from his book when Relm entered the room with her entourage.  
  
Owezer's broad face split into a grin almost as broad. "Why, if it isn't little Relm Arrowny! My dear, come in! And don't tell your friends to be shy, either....they're welcome as well. I think I see some familiar faces among them." He sat up a bit more in his chair, and set his book aside. "What brings you all this way?"  
  
Relm was admiring a sculpture of what appeared to be an all-male orgy. Apparently, as long as it was art, nothing shocked her. "Well, we're here because of the guy over there in the bandanna."  
  
"Locke Cole, the self-proclaimed " Treasure Hunter"?" Owezer looked shrewdly at the man in question. "Yes, I've heard of him."  
  
Locke suddenly pulled off a fluid bow. " Your grace."  
  
Owezer laughed, his vast belly jiggling. "And he's just as bright as I've heard...so, Cole...you know about my title."  
  
"Only because I know your nephew. Consequently, he's the reason we're here....we need to talk to him about something important."  
  
The fat duke grunted. "As do I. See all these lovely bits of art? Most of them are supposed to go to him, so he can move them to his new "Cosmo Tower". The only problem is that insane cult is still up there. Ever since they moved in, Xain has been scarce."  
  
"We know the whole cult issue, your grace." Setzer said. "That's why we're here...we were hoping to talk to Xain about getting into the tower safely and stealthily. They've stolen something very valuable to us."  
  
"What is it, my boy? Maybe I can buy you a new one. I have no real purpose for all this money I get, anyway."  
  
Relm sat in a chair next to Owezer's. " They took a friend of ours...the one that I told you about....she's the one who's half-Esper."  
  
He grunted, and folded his hands on his paunch. "So they've taken your friend, and you want to assault the tower to get them back?"  
  
"That's about the gist of it, Owezer." Relm apparently ignored titles.  
  
The fat man stood up with some difficulty, and waddled over to a bookshelf, carrying the book he was reading prior to Relm's entrance. "Well, I really would like to help you. I heard that Esper girl is a real sweet person, but I don't have the damnedest idea where my nephew would be."  
  
Relm sighed. "Don't lie, Owezer. You know where he is, you're just afraid that if we find him, he might decide to take this villa back from you, and then you'd lose all your art."  
  
He peered at her shrewdly. "So...you did fully become a telepath, didn't you?" He sighed, and shelved his book. "I guess I should apologize for lying, but it's just that I'm afraid my beautiful collection will be taken away from me. When I was just plain duke, I could barely afford the basics...now that I've taken over Xain's job here, I have enough...no, MORE than enough to expand my collection."  
  
Setzer looked down at the bronze male group-sex sculpture. "Is that why you have this...thing?"  
  
Owezer looked at the offensive piece. " Oh, that. It was a gift...believe me, I didn't want it." He looked over at the large painting Locke was examining. " Careful.....that one cost a lot of money, since it was apparently painted by an Esper."  
  
The painting was an intricate one done in oils on a velvet background. It wasn't the mere beauty of the painting that caught the thief's attention, it was the subject. A bird that seemed to be made of pure flames spread its pinions and raised its elegantly pointed beak in repose. Within the form of the fiery animal was the life-size figure of a woman in a cream-colored robe. Her hair was long and black, and her expression kind yet sad, almost of regret. She clutched one hand to her breast, while extending the other gently to the viewer, almost as if she wished to share something.  
  
Locke stared at the painting with a hollow expression. "...an Esper?" His voice was solemn. He reached up to the painting, as if to hold the hand the woman was so kindly extending to him. Setzer looked up at the painting, and it only took him a moment to recognize the woman in it, and the fiery beast she was contained in.  
  
"It's a lovely piece, painted by some Esper long ago named Harsghalt. Apparently he was a time-element Esper with the ability to see the future, so he painted this long before Phoenix was reborn. Although the woman inside the Phoenix is a mystery to me." He waddled over to the two men standing in front of the painting. "Are you all right, Mr. Cole? You look a bit pale."  
  
"This woman..." He looked up at her face with eyes that held sadness and perhaps a bit of self-contempt. "...this woman died years ago, in a town to the north...Kohlingen. Her name was Rachel...and I loved her." He turned to Owezer. "About a year ago, I found a stone that could restore life...the magicite from the Phoenix. But it was damaged. When I tried to use it to revive her, she gave her own life and essence..." His voice trailed off, and he picked up again, a few seconds later. "She gave herself up so that the Phoenix would be healed, and so she and Phoenix became one." He lowered his eyes. "That's why I'm a bit pale, your grace. Not many people know about Rachel, or Phoenix."  
  
Owezer patted Locke kindly on the shoulder with a chubby hand. "Don't let it bring up any bad memories, my boy. Sometimes paintings can draw us in, and bring out the laughter in us...or the tears." He looked up at the exquisite picture. "I would offer it to you, but it belongs to Xain, since the Phoenix is the center of his life." He sighed, and turned away from the artwork. " That's why he's been gone...he has been praying for Phoenix to return to him. He hopes that when it returns, he can take his tower back, and take a select few from this miserable high-rise town and move them to Cosmo Tower. That is his plan." He grunted, and tapped at his chin. "Although, this might be a fair trade-off for you and him."  
  
"Trade-off?" Setzer asked. "What sort of trade-off?"  
  
Owezer made his way back to his chair, and sat down. "Well, Xain hopes to take his tower back, and you want to take over the tower as well. I think he might help you in your little quest, if you give him something in return."  
  
Setzer leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "What would he get, anyway? I think getting his own tower back would be enough payment."  
  
"You don't know Xain." the fat duke said almost gloomily. "He's the most complex man I've ever met, and he isn't even thirty yet. I think that if you give him the Phoenix Magicite you were talking about, he'd gladly help you get your Esper friend back."  
  
"That'll be hard to do, your grace." Locke said, sighing. "All the magicite disappeared after we defeated Kefka....including Phoenix. Sorry, but I can't give him something that isn't there. Besides, he's the guy who gave the magicite to me."  
  
Owezer gazed levelly at the thief. " Excuse me?"  
  
Locke sat down in a chair. "I've known Xain for several years now...I even ran some errands for him...ones dealing with Banon, anyway. When the apocalypse came and my friends and myself were thrown apart, I was flung to a far corner of the world, like the rest of them. I also hit my head pretty hard...so I was knocked out for several days. When I came to, some weird gray beast was watching over me."  
  
"That would be Django." the duke offered.  
  
"Yeah, him. Anyway, he told me that Xain was the one who saved me. Sure enough, Xain came along, and I told him my story...the whole deal with Kefka. We got to talking, and I told him a little more about my past, including Rachel. He then mentioned that he had a rock that could restore life, hidden in a star-shaped volcano range. I eagerly jumped on this opportunity, so when I was well enough he took me to the cave, and the rest is history." He leaned forward. "Look, I would love to sit here and chit- chat about my wonderful adventures, but my friends and I really need to find Xain. I think he's the only one who can get us into that tower safely, and he's the only one that can guide us out of it. Knowing Xain, he'll help me out. He doesn't turn his back on friends."  
  
Mog silently sat off to the side, and exchanged a look with Relm. Mog had heard the conversation between Celes and Locke the previous night, and he knew that Locke wanted Terra back as badly as Setzer or Edgar did. Relm nodded in response; she understood.  
  
Owezer drummed his chubby fingers on the arm of his chase lounge. "All right...but tell him that I'm happy with my job in stuffed peacockville. Despite the snooty citizens, I can have my art. That is, I can have the one thing that makes me happy." He stopped drumming his fingers. "You'll find Xain in the same cave you mentioned, Mr. Cole. He's in the Star-Shaped Mountains, in the volcanic Cave of the Phoenix, no doubt trying to call Phoenix back again. Good luck in getting him out of there." 


End file.
